
Class. 

Book ^^l^J^L^i 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



M 




The "Old Church" i8i 2-1876 [Set- page 34) 



Early Northampton 



y 




^A breath of memory on the dust of time " 



Published by 

BETTY ALLEN CHAPTER 

DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 

NORTHAMPTON, MASSACHUSETTS 

1914 






COPYRIGHT 1914 

BY 

BETTY ALLEN CHAPTER, D. A. R. 



THE F. A. BASSETTE COMPANY 

Printers 

Springfield, Massachusetts 



i]£C -2 1914 " 



I CI ^ ;3 1. 1) 2 



Contents 



PAGE 

Foreword 7 

The Original Grants of Land Katherine Shepherd Smith 9 

The Meeting Houses Clara Fay Doane 25 

Old Time Living Anna Covell Copeland. ... 37 

The Early Schools Ellen Hancock Babbitt ... 49 

Jonathan Edwards Harriet J. Kneeland 71 

The Burying Grounds Mina E. Wood 89 

Old Northampton Taverns and Their Distinguished 

Guests Lucy Hunt Smith 103 

General Seth Pomeroy Katherine Shepherd Smith 119 

■ Early Northampton Brides Anna Covell Copeland 147 

Major Joseph Hawley Helen C. Sergeant 159 

The Old Ferries and Bridges Harriet J. Kneeland 175 

Gleanings from Early Gazettes Mary Manning Walker. . . 189 

Governor Caleb Strong Martha F. Gere 207 

Round Hill, Its History and Ro- 
mance Katherine Shepherd Smith 215 

Ode, To the Forefathers Who Built the First Meeting House 

in Northampton Eve Owen Cochran 

Harriet J. Kneeland 231 



Illustrations 



The "Old Church" Frontispiece 

PAGE 

The "Cornet" Joseph Parsons House Facing 17 

The "Jonathan Edwards Church" Facing 30 

*Fireplace in old Parsons House, Bridge Street, 1743-1914. 

From original drawing 38 

Gothic Seminary Facing 62 

Jonathan Edwards — Portrait Facing 73 

The Edwards Elm and Whitney House Facing 80 

The Old Burying Ground Facing 95 

*Betty Allen's Grave. From original drawing loi 

The Warner House, 1794-1870 114 

*The Pomeroy Crest. From original drawing 120 

*Pomeroy Castle, Devonshire, England. From original 

drawing 122 

A Pomeroy Gun 126 

*General Seth Pomeroy Monument at Peekskill, N. Y. From 

original drawing 145 

The Lieut. Jonathan Hunt House, Elm Street Facing 154 

*Major Joseph Hawley's Desk, with the shaving mirror and 

old china once used by him. From original drawing 160 

*Table Monument to Major Hawley, and his Mother's Grave. 

From original drawing 173 

Hockanum Ferry Facing 178 

Old Clark Inn and Toll House Facing 182 

Henry S. Gere — Portrait Facing i()j 

Governor Caleb Strong — Portrait Facing 209 

Round Hill in 1 8 10 Facing 221 

*Boulder marking the site of the First Meeting House. From 

original drawing 232 

*The pen and ink sketches, reproduced in Early Northampton, were 
drawn by Thomas Munroe Shepherd. 



Foreword 



THIS sheaf of Northampton history and remi- 
niscence, garnered from the archives of Betty 
Allen Chapter, Daughters of the American Revo- 
lution, and now inviting the attention of a wider 
hearing than that to which its contents first 
appealed, is but an echo of the long ago, borne 
across the centuries to those of today who care 
for the old times, the old ways and the records 
and belongings of our forebears. 

Among the generous subscribers to the book 
who eagerly welcome its publication, are many 
who rejoice in Northampton as their birthplace 
and early home, or that of their ancestors, which 
indicates a reason for its compilation and that 
the volume will find a place, not alone on the 
shelves of the private and the public libraries 
for which it has been sought, but in the hearts 
of Old Northampton's sons and daughters every- 
where. 



THE ORIGINAL GRANTS OF LAND 



The Original Grants of Land 



In retracing the years intervening from the present time 
back to that far-away day before the first settlement of 
Northampton, the early history of the Connecticut Valley 
impresses one like some romantic tale, and but for our famil- 
iarity with it, through frequent recital by antiquarian, his- 
torian and poet, it might seem more of a myth than a 
reality. 

When John Pynchon, Eleazer Holyoke and Samuel 
Chapin, of Springfield, petitioned the General Court of 
Massachusetts "that liberty be granted to erect a planta- 
tion about fifteen miles above on the Connecticut River," 
the Nonotuck tribe of Indians claimed all the territory on 
both sides of this beautiful stream, from the head of South 
Hadley Falls to Mount Sugar Loaf. The Indian name 
"Nonotuck" signifies "in the midst of the river;" and so 
these lands appear now, as the Connecticut, in its winding 
course, curves in and out among the points of the projecting 
meadows. 

In their rude forts, built beside the river, or perched on 
sightly bluffs not far removed from it, the savages looked 
upon this wide domain as forever their own, if they failed 
not to give their portion of wampum to the Mohawk tribe 
of the Iroquois, farther to the west. For once a year, two 
Mohawk chiefs, after crossing the Hudson in their elm- 
bark canoes, followed the Hoosic River to its head waters, 
crossed the mountain range, and by way of the Deerfield 
to the Connecticut, visited the Indian villages of the valley, 
claiming tribute from all. 

Into this wilderness home of the rightful owners of it all 
stalked the vanguard of our little band of ancestors. As the 
imagination pictures this pageant, of essentially Puritan 
make-up, thus intruding itself upon the ancient planting 
ground of the red man, one realizes that two hundred and 
sixty years is a marvellously short time for all the changes 



12 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

which have been wrought here since the first white men built 
their log houses at Nonotuck. 

Pynchon and his associates secured permission to "erect 
two plantations, one on each side the Connecticut River." 
The one on the east, with boundaries north and south 
similar to those of the Northampton grant, comprised the 
original territory of Hadley, settled in 1659. The pro- 
spective settlers of Nonotuck being, with one exception, 
residents of Connecticut, their petition to the General Court, 
with its twenty-four signatures, was supplemented by that 
of the Massachusetts men, Pynchon, Holyoke and Chapin, 
who later were chosen to lay out the plantation. Only eight 
of the original petitioners were included in the list of first 
settlers. Their names were Robert Bartlett, William Clark, 
William Holton, Edward Elmore, William Janes, William 
Miller, Thomas Root and John Webb. 

In 1653, after permission had been granted them to 
make a settlement at Nonotuck, a few of the men came up 
to look over the ground, for which Pynchon agreed to pay 
the Indians one hundred fathoms of wampum, ten coats, 
a few small presents and the plowing of sixteen acres of 
meadow land. But they went down to Springfield for the 
winter, returning again in the spring of 1654, the recognized 
date of actual settlement. 

The original territory of Northampton embraced, besides 
its present area, the towns of Southampton, Westhampton, 
Easthampton and parts of Hatfield and Montgomery; it 
extended from The Great Falls — now the site of the Holyoke 
dam — on the south, north to the Hatfield line, and westerly, 
into the woods, nine miles; the Connecticut River marked 
the eastern boundary. On the south, Springfield, Windsor, 
Hartford and Wethersfield were comparatively near; Lan- 
caster, eighty miles away, being the solitary habitation of 
white men to the east, until the settlements in the vicinity 
of Massachusetts Bay were reached. The nearest western 
neighbors were the Dutch at Albany ; while to the north, one; 
would needs find Canada, and the French occupants there, 
to meet with signs of civilization in that direction. 



THE ORIGINAL GRANTS OF LAND I3 

Many early New England towns were settled as a result 
of troublous times in the churches, at the former homes of 
the pioneers. This was the case when Thomas Hooker 
brought his people from Cambridge and Dorchester to 
Hartford; and when John Russell, Jr., of Wethersfield, 
piloted his disaffected flock, with others from Hartford, to 
Hadley. But Nonotuck seems to have drawn her settlers 
by her "pleasing situation," by the very beauty and fertility 
of her fair meadows, and because the people who first came 
had felt themselves rather crowded on their former allot- 
ments. John Pynchon, also, in his petition to the General 
Court, while enumerating the advantages to Springfield of a 
new settlement to the north, and with a seeming tinge of 
loneliness felt at the solitary outpost, planted by his father 
at "Agawam," says: "We, being alone, may by this means 
have some more neighborhood." The pathos of this appeal 
must have touched even the stout hearts of the new comers 
at Nonotuck, and doubtless Northampton then, as now and 
during the intervening centuries, proved herself a good 
neighbor to the older town. 

The sturdy band of pioneers, who in May, 1654, wended 
their way into what is now the City of Northampton, came, 
it is thought, by "the old cartway to Windsor," reaching 
Westfield from the south over Woronoke Hill where the 
Trading House stood, built in 1640 by Governor Hopkins 
of Connecticut, to carry on fur trading with the Indians. 
From Westfield their course lay through the present towns 
of Southampton and Easthampton, entering the new planta- 
tion by West Street, where they probably forded Mill River 
near the site of "Welsh End" bridge. 

The first home lots were laid out on Pleasant Street; 
then on King, Hawley, Market and Bridge Streets, though 
these familiar titles were not in use until many years later. 
Hawley Street, named in honor of Major Joseph Hawley, 
who lived there in the i8th century, was first called "Pud- 
ding Lane," — appetizing if not dignified; King Street, the 
home of John King, was named for him; and the town, also, 
before its first New Year had been ushered in, discarded 



14 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

the name, Nonotuck, for that of his old home in England — 
Northampton. Pleasant Street, at one time known as 
"Prison Lane," and again as "Comfort Lane," was at first 
most suitably called "Bartlett Lane," for here Robert 
Bartlett, to whom, as stated by one chronicler, fell first 
choice, was granted his allotment on the west side of the 
street, near the meadow gate, of which he was the keeper. 
His was the first home lot inside the stockade, built in 1675 
as a protection against the Indians. He, also, was one of the 
first whites killed by the savages when they attacked the 
town in 1676. 

No settler acquired absolute title to his grant until he 
had occupied it four consecutive years. Each received a 
home lot of four acres, besides land in the meadows and 
sometimes on the uplands. The first division in the meadows 
allowed fifteen acres to the head of a family, three to a son, 
and twenty acres to an "estate of one hundred pounds." 
These allotments were seldom in one tract, and often were 
widely separated. The undivided land was called "the 
commons." It provided pasturage for the township, and 
"candlewood" — pine knots and roots — with which to light 
the rude dwellings by night, before candles came into general 
use. This latter privilege was more and more restricted as 
the pine trees became scarce, and finally was entirely with- 
drawn. 

Only a portion of the meadow and outlying lands was 
divided at first, and the final abolishment of the commons 
did not come until 1756. Previous to this there were fre- 
quent divisions; additional allotments were made to settlers 
already established in the town, the amount of land received 
corresponding to the value of their estates, on the principle' 
"To him that hath shall be given." New comers were also 
thus provided for. 

North of Robert Bartlett's lot, at the foot of Pleasant 
Street, on the right, were the home lots in the following 
order, of Edward Elmore, William Holton, Richard and 
John Lyman. These were the original settlers on the west 
side of the street, but there was enough land north of John 



THE ORIGINAL GRANTS OF LAND I5 

Lyman's, four years later, for the minister's lot of four acres. 
These home lots all extended back to Mill River. On the 
east side of Pleasant Street, beginning at the south, were 
located Thomas Mason, Thomas Root, William Janes, John 
Webb and Alexander Edwards. These grants occupied the 
land as far north as Main Street. It will be noted that six 
of the original eight petitioners received grants on this 
street; William Miller and William Clark, the other two, 
were assigned home lots, the first on King Street, and Wil- 
liam Clark, who did not arrive until 1659 or '60, was one of 
the first to settle west of Meeting House Hill. 

It is uncertain who accompanied these eight brave men, 
when they journeyed through the dim forest, and in the 
wilderness broke ground for their new homes. Probably 
Thomas Mason and the brothers, John and Richard Lyman, 
all of whom received original grants on Pleasant Street, were 
of the number. In 1658, when Rev. Eleazer Mather was 
chosen minister at Northampton, he was granted the lot, 
already mentioned, at the corner of Pleasant and Main 
Streets. It reached to Old South Street on the west. He 
was given, also, a very generous allowance of meadow land. 
Forty acres of land was "sequestered for a perpetual stand- 
ing lot for the ministry," and is still in possession of the 
First Parish, the yearly income from it being devoted toward 
the payment of parish expenses. 

In 1689, Mr. Mather's home lot and house were sold by 
his heirs to John and Moses Lyman. In 1785, Seth Lyman 
sold a part of this to Judge Samuel Hinckley, who, about 
1794, built the fine mansion which stood there until recent 
years, long owned and occupied by the late Major Harvey 
Kirkland. When Judge Hinckley bought of the Lymans, 
Dr. Levi Shepherd lived on what is now the north corner of 
River Street, which thoroughfare was not opened until many 
years later. Just north was his store; and in the rear a rope 
walk and buildings, where he manufactured duck for the 
Government, extended back to Old South Street. The 
original grants to John Webb and Alexander Edwards early 
came into the possession of the Strong family, descending 



l6 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

to Governor Caleb Strong, whose land stretched along Main , 
Street from Pleasant Street to Hawley. 

Samuel Wright, Sr., was granted an allotment at the 
corner of Main and King Streets. William Aiiller's lot on 
King Street adjoined this, and like all on that side of 
the street was bounded easterly by the Market Street 
brook. William Miller's descendants are soon to show their 
loyalty by dedicating a monument in the Bridge Street 
Cemetery to his memory and that of his wife, Patience. 

The settlers on King Street were given two acres on the 
east side as home lots. Because these were but half the 
regular size, they received additional land on the other side 
of the street, above Park Street, and west of King Street 
brook. This tract — for good reasons, doubtless, called 
"The Forlorn Lots" — ran westerly to the base of Round 
Hill. North of William Miller was David Burt, who be- 
longed to the prominent and numerous family of Burts in 
Springfield and Longmeadow. The late Henry M. Burt, 
one of Springfield's historians, who was of this family, lived 
in Northampton many years, being connected with local 
newspapers, and here he married Fanny, daughter of the 
late Seth Hunt. It is said that the house west of the Baptist 
Church, now owned and occupied by Dr. Higbee, is the 
original David Burt house, moved there from King Street 
many years ago. 

John King came next to David Burt, occupying land 
historically interesting, both as the home of this important 
founder of the town, and later as that of the famous Dwight 
family, which furnished three presidents for Yale University. 
It is to be deeply regretted that the old colonial mansion, 
with its stairway brought from England by John King, 
which stood so long on this spot, having been built in 1751 
by Major Timothy Dwight, should recently have been 
taken down. The destruction of this famous landmark 
emphasizes the imperative need of a movement being made 
at an early day, to preserve some of the priceless old houses 
still remaining in Northampton, on the elm-shaded streets, 
where our ancestors had their earlv homes. 



THE ORIGINAL GRANTS OF LAND I7 

Walter Lee's allotment was next north of John King's. 
Here in 1852, Kossuth, the Hungarian patriot, was enter- 
tained for several days at the home of the late Erastus 
Hopkins. Thomas Woodford's, later made historic as the 
home of Northampton's famous preacher, Jonathan Edwards, 
was next north. The Whitney family, who lived here long 
afterwards for many years, was one of the most distinguished, 
not only in Northampton, but in New England. North of 
this sacred spot followed the home lots of Isaac Sheldon and 
Samuel Allen. The latter for over sixty-five years was the 
home of Joseph and Betty (Parsons) Allen, and the birth- 
place of their six soldier sons, all of whom, including Rev. 
Thomas Allen, of Pittsfield, known as the "Fighting Parson 
of Bennington," participated in the Revolutionary War. 
Joseph Root and John Allen occupied land still farther north 
on King Street. 

Joseph Parsons, known as "Cornet" Joseph from his 
connection with the "Train Band," was another of the early 
settlers of the town. His home lot, with the original grant 
and subsequent purchases, included the space bounded by 
Bridge, Market and Union Streets and Bridge Street Park. 
Many of his descendants are still residents of the city, loyal 
to its ancient traditions. Two very old and interesting 
houses stand on this land. One of these on the north side of 
Bridge Street, occupied by Miss Anna Bliss, is thought to 
be the oldest in the city, and has been the property of her 
ancestors in the Wright family, for more than a hundred 
years. Previous to their ownership it was the home of 
"Cornet" Joseph Parsons and several generations of his 
descendants. Yet another Parsons roof-tree remaining on 
this old grant is the time-worn dwelling built in 1743, known 
in recent years as the "Chauncey Parsons place."* Beyond 
"Cornet" Joseph's boundary on Market Street, George Alex- 
ander, John Bliss, William Hannum and Henry Curtis 
received allotments. On the east side of Hawley Street 
were John Broughton and Thomas Bascom. Their lots were 
South of that of Joseph Fitch, at the corner of Bridge Street, 

•Taken down in April, 1914. 



EARLY NORTHAMPTON 



whose land probably extended east to Pomeroy Terrace, 
including the sites of the old Washburn place, the Norwood 
building, the Butler, Cook, Lathrop and Clark residences. 
There were four grants on Hawley Street, south of Thomas 
Bascom's. These were the homes of Robert Lyman, James 
Bridgman, George Langton and John Stebbins. George 
Langton gave a part of his home lot to his son-in-law, Thomas 
Hanchet. William Hulbert, John Ingersoll, Thomas Salmon 
and Nathaniel Phelps had lots in the vicinity of what are 
now Gothic, Center and Park Streets. 

Grants west of Meeting House Hill were made later than 
those already mentioned. New settlers continued to come 
from Connecticut and Springfield, but by 1660 the last of the 
original grants had been made. Up to this time no land had 
been sold by the town. On the contrary, special inducements 
were offered to secure new residents. Skilled men began to 
be needed, and those with some "estate." Lieutenant 
William Clark, one of the original petitioners for settlement, 
with Henry Woodward, who came in 1659 or '60, received 
the largest home lots that had then been awarded. They 
were of twelve acres each on the west side of Elm Street, 
and extended to Mill River. Lieutenant Clark's grant joined 
W^oodward's near the corner of Elm and West Streets. In 
1 68 1, a negro slave from Brooklield was hung for burning 
the log house of William Clark, which stood about where 
now is College Hall of Smith College. 

North of Clark's home lot was Edward Baker's. On 
the opposite side of Elm Street, Ralph Hutchinson, 
Nathaniel, son of William Clark, and Jedediah, son of Elder 
John Strong, had their holdings. It was Jedediah who for 
English money equivalent to ^4.00 a year, "blew the trum- 
pet" to call the pious settlers to religious service in the little 
log meeting house. This exercise may have developed a 
lung power conducive to longevity, for we read that at an 
advanced age he removed to Coventry, Conn., with his 
third wife — she who had been the Widow Mary Hart Lee, 
of Farmington. But, alas! a few years later, while returning 
to their Coventry home after a visit in Northampton, in 



THE ORIGINAL GRANTS OF LAND I9 

fording the Connecticut River at South Hadley Falls, she 
fell from her horse and was killed. Being experienced in, 
and inured to, widowerhood, Jedediah survived even this 
tragic shock twenty-three years, dying in 1733, at the age 
of 96. But there was a Jedediah left in the next generation, 
though the euphonious name seems not now to be perpetuated 
in the Strong family. 

Rev. Eleazer Mather made an agreement when he came 
to Northampton that desirable settlers, whom he might 
influence to follow him, should receive generous grants from 
the town. These allotments to the new comers were made, 
however, through the liberality of those already here, practi- 
cally every man in the town giving from one to six acres. 
Under this arrangement came Elder John Strong, David 
Wilton and Aaron Cook. They each received eighty acres 
of land, meadow and upland, besides a four-acre home lot 
granted by the town. 

These lots extended from the present site of the Baptist 
Church to the old Samuel Parsons homestead. Elder 
Strong's lot was on the west side of the street, but in 1660 he 
bought of John Webb a home lot at the head of Old South 
Street that ran westward to the "Mill Lot," where was built 
the first grist mill in the town, near the present Gas Works. 
David Wilton's lot was east of Aaron Cook's, the latter 
occupying the present site of the Forbes Library. 

Medad Pomeroy from Windsor and Jonathan Hunt of 
Hartford, settled in Northampton about the same time — 
1659 or '60 — and it was agreed they should receive, beside 
their home lots, sixteen acres each, provided "they supply 
the town's need of Smithery and Coopery" — Pomeroy being 
a blacksmith and Jonathan Hunt a cooper. Later the 
Pomeroys for several generations were expert gunmakers; 
and Jonathan Hunt, besides running his cooper's shop, 
manufactured malt, beer then being considered one of the 
necessities of life. Medad Pomeroy was first alloted land 
north of "Cornet" Joseph Parsons, on Bridge Street, but it is 
doubtful if he ever lived there, for soon after he was awarded 
a home lot near the site of the present Edwards Church; 



20 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

his former land was incorporated in the burying ground. 
He afterwards bought the holdings of his brother Caleb, on 
the west. 

Caleb removed early to Southampton and was the ances- 
tor of most of the Pomeroys there and in Easthampton. 
Later, Medad and his son Ebenezer were granted, or bought, 
more land to the east, until at the death of Ebenezer, — the 
father of General Seth Pomeroy — the homestead included 
the Main Street frontage from the Catholic Church on Elm 
Street, to Center Street. In the next generation, Seth 
Pomeroy's estate comprised the land extending west from 
this Center Street boundary, to and including the present 
Draper Hotel. 

In 1672, Medad Pomeroy brought his aged father, 
Eltweed, from Windsor and took care of him in his home 
during the remainder of his life. Eltweed, the first of the 
Pomeroy family, and the progenitor of practically all bearing 
the name in America, came from Beaminster, County 
Dorset, England, and was prominent in the settlement of 
Dorchester. He and his children, in the new country, proved 
themselves worthy scions of the ancient stock. 

Deacon Jonathan Hunt, known as the first Deacon 
Jonathan, was a grandson of Gov. John Webster of Con- 
necticut. Governor Webster was one of the original settlers 
of Hadley in 1659, where he died in 1665. His grave is said 
to be the oldest in the Hadley cemetery. It is marked by 
an ancient red sandstone table monument and also by a later 
stone erected in 181 8 by his descendant, Noah Webster, of 
dictionary fame. Like John King, Deacon Hunt was a 
native of Northampton, England. He settled at the upper 
corner of Prospect and Elm Streets. His son, Lieut. Jona- 
than, bought land on the opposite corner, of William 
Clark. This had formerly been granted to Jedediah Strong 
of trumpet fame — who had followed his son, Jedediah, Jr., 
to Connecticut — and to Samuel Smith. The latter early 
removed to Hadley. 

The Burnham School building, erected by a descendant 
of Lieut. Jonathan, the Edwards place, and property adjoin- 



THE ORIGINAL GRANTS OF LAND 21 

ing, where Smith College dormitories now stand, all occupy 
this old Hunt homestead. In later life, Lieut. Jonathan 
Hunt removed to land that had originally been granted his 
father, and is thought to have built the house where Mrs. 
Sessions now resides. Captain Jonathan, his son, then came 
into possession of the more southerly homestead. Ebenezer 
Hunt, Sr., father of Deacon Ebenezer, was a brother of 
Lieut. Jonathan. Beyond the Hunt homesteads, Joseph 
Baker and John Taylor had their holdings. 

In i68i, Rev. Solomon Stoddard, the second minister 
in Northampton, received from the Town four acres situated 
on the eastern side of Round Hill, near the junction of 
Henshaw Avenue and Crescent Street, but he did not occupy 
it, three years later purchasing another lot south of this, 
and building where now is the home of Mr. Henry Hinckley, 
on Prospect Street. In 1726, the town sold the remainder 
of Round Hill to his son, Colonel John Stoddard, for forty 
pounds. 

South Street began to be settled about the time that the 
first homes were established on Elm Street. A swamp lay 
where now are Maple and Fruit Streets. This was granted 
to Joseph Parsons, William Miller and David Burt. The 
Parsons house standing on lower South Street, so well de- 
scribed by Miss Harriet L. Kneeland in her interesting 
pamphlet, entitled "Some Old Northampton Homes," is of 
more recent date, but is on the original grant and has always 
remained in possession of the Parsons family. Betty 
(Parsons) Allen was doubtless born on or near this spot, for 
her father is said to have owned all the land from Colonel 
William.s' place to Maple Street. William Miller, David 
Burt and George Sumner had lots extending easterly to Mill 
River, including the present homesteads of Colonel Williams 
and Mr. A. T. White. 

On the west side of South Street, nearest Mill River, was 
the first lot sold by the town. This site was the home of 
the Kingsley family for more than two hundred years. 
William Smead's and Ralph Hutchinson's grants were south 
of Kingsley's. Still beyond lived John Searle and Nathaniel 



22 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

Clark. These complete the general list of grants to the 
settlers. By the year 1660 fifty-seven men had received 
home lots, and the town had a population of between three 
and four hundred. 

The thoroughfares in use up to that time were hardly 
more than lanes, following haphazard lines approaching the 
log dwellings of the early settlers. February 26, 1660, the 
first order was issued for the laying out of streets. West and 
Green Streets were the ones mentioned, but they did not 
then receive these names. West Street to this day is often 
spoken of as "Welsh End," by which it was originally known, 
because it ended at the house of Alexander Edwards, who 
was a Welshman. Green Street gave access to the "Upper 
Mill." Lieut. William Clark laid out this roadway, for 
which the town granted him twenty acres of land and the 
necessary labor. In old times Elm Street was called "New 
Boston," Prospect Street, in contrast, was dubbed "Cow- 
Lane;" and South Street, "Licking Water." It was not 
until 1826 that the old streets were given the titles familiar 
to us now. 

Different sections of the meadows early received dis- 
tinctive names, which have clung to them to the present 
day. In the bend of the Connecticut, above Shepherd's 
Island, is "Old Rainbow," with its suggestive curve in the 
land, caused by the winding stream. "Young Rainbow" 
adjoins it. "Bark Wigwam" has some Indian associations. 
"Venturers' Field" recalls the tradition of a family ventur- 
ing, in 1652, to spend the winter in a cave in the bluff, near 
Pomeroy Terrace. "Walnut Trees" was farther east. The 
road leading from the foot of Pleasant Street to Hockanum 
Ferry traverses the "Middle Aleadow." "Manhan" lies 
below South Street and enters territory now belonging to 
Easthampton. Adjacent is "Hog's Bladder," so called 
because of its shape. "Pynchon's Meadow," near the 
Southampton line, was granted by the town to Major John 
Pynchon, of Springfield, for his services in "erecting the 
plantation at Nonotuck." 

The outlying, more remote parts of Northampton, for 



THE ORIGINAL GRANTS OF LAND IT, 

a hundred years after its settlement, were mainly unbroken 
forest, undisturbed except by the stealthy tread of the red 
man, or by some mighty hunter from the stockaded village, 
who, like John Webb, sought the fur-bearing or toothsome 
animals in the lonely, primeval wood. 

But before the middle of the i8th century, adventurous 
spirits began to found homes in what is now Southampton. 
In 1732, a road was laid out connecting this, then inaccessible 
region, with the center of the old town. It was not, how- 
ever, until 1741 that her clinging mother and the Massa- 
chusetts General Court, agreed to Southampton's full fledged 
independence. Westhampton was incorporated in 1778. 
Easthampton, the youngest and nearest daughter, who set 
up housekeeping in 1785, has always seemed quite capable 
of taking care of herself, though the inevitable separation 
was long and stoutly opposed. 

Thus our fathers, in the midst of privation and danger; 
with toil, courage, and faith in God, planted on the lonely 
frontier, the beginnings of this beautiful town; this "Para- 
dise of America!" Our priceless heritage! 




THE MEETING HOUSES 



The Meeting Houses 



Northampton, originally Nonotuck, was the second 
plantation established within the limits of Massachusetts 
on the Connecticut River. The first settlers — and there were 
but twenty families in all — only waited long enough to build 
themselves homes, — log huts at best — before they erected 
a meeting house. 

Meeting House Hill, comprising the rising ground on 
which now stands the Court House, Savings Bank and First 
Church, has been the site of a house of worship since the 
settlement of the town. An old book of records contains an 
agreement whereby William Holton, Richard Lyman, 
Joseph Parsons, John Lyman and Edward Elmore were to 
build such a house. It was to be constructed of "sawen 
timber — twenty-six feet long, eighteen feet wide and nine 
feet high, from the lower part of the sill to the upper part of 
the raisens." There was to be one doorway and two windows. 
The roof was to be thatched. The door, windows and inside 
work were not included in this contract. The builders were 
to be paid fourteen pounds in work or corn. This building 
was completed in 1656. 

At that time the forest primeval covered the entire hill. 
It was the second meeting house erected west of Lancaster, 
the first having been built at Springfield, in 1646, just ten 
years before. The first home lots were laid oflt on what are 
now King, Pleasant, Market and Hawley Streets. It is 
thought that the meeting house faced easterly from the brow 
of the hill, which was much more abrupt than now. It was 
used, not exclusively for public worship, but for all gather- 
ings, as the town had need. During the first one hundred 
years meeting houses were not invested with the sanctity 
that pervades them at the present time, but were utilized for 
many purposes, secular and religious. As this was the first 
public building erected in the new town, it must in some 
respect differ from the log houses that sheltered the people. 



28 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

A'lost of the dwellings of the pioneers were constructed of 
unhewn timber, squared at the ends. When it is considered 
that sawn lumber could only be procured by great manual 
labor, it becomes evident that the building was one of 
special importance. In this small, rude structure our 
fathers assembled to worship God, for six or eight years. 
There was little save location to distinguish it from the 
home of the settlers. Twenty families would make but a 
small congregation, and as they lived near each other, the 
blowing of a trumpet, or the beating of a drum, was sufB- 
cient to call them together. In 1663, this building was 
converted into a school house. 

The town increased so rapidly that at a town meeting in 
1661 it was voted to build a new meeting house, forty-two 
feet square, for which 150 pounds was appropriated. The 
committee in charge were William Holton and Joseph 
Parsons, who helped build the first one, with Ensign Wilton, 
Robert Bartlett, John Stebbins, and William Clark. The 
roof of the building rose from each side to a point in the 
center and was surmounted by a turret, for a bell. Some- 
times a square platform with a railing surrounded the turret, 
on which the drum was beaten, or the trumpet sounded. In 
times of war a sentinel was posted here. Whether this house 
had gable windows, or not, is a question, but it was a custom 
to place such windows in this style of church, to light the 
galleries. It was located just west of the site of the first 
place of worship, and is believed to have stood in the high- 
way nearly opposite the present entrance to Center Street. 

It is thought that this meeting house had a wide door 
facing the south; opposite the door was the pulpit. There 
were four windows on each side: on either side of the pulpit 
may have been a few pews for the minister's family, the 
deacons and other dignitaries. Occasionally an individual 
was allowed to build a pew for himself. Two rows of benches, 
each capable of seating five or six persons, with a wide aisle 
between, covered most of the floor space. Hatfield, West 
Springfield, Wethersfield and New London had meeting 
houses at that period of the same style and dimensions. In 



THE MEETING HOUSES 29 

1663, a committee of seven was appointed by the town to 
see that the "meeting house be decently seated." They were 
instructed to consider age and estate. To every inhabitant 
was appointed a seat, and each person was expected to 
occupy it whenever divine service was held. In the house 
of God, the rank and dignity of every worshiper was dis- 
tinctly marked by the seat assigned him on the Lord's Day. 
In 1670, side galleries were added, and ten years later 
one was built across the front. In 1677, the meeting house 
was fortified against the Indians, several settlers having been 
killed and their homes burned. In 1682, nearly twenty 
years after the erection of this house, a bell was placed in the 
turret. The bell rope hung down into the broad aisle where 
the bell ringer stood. This second building served the people 
more than seventy years, but it had grown old and shaky — 
every year it was found necessary to spend considerable 
money in repairs, though not enough seems to have been 
done to arrest the hand of decay. Besides becoming more 
and more dilapidated it was altogether too small to accom- 
modate the large and increasing congregation. 

Therefore, in November, 1735, it was voted to build the 
third place of worship "seventy foot long and forty-six or 
forty-eight foot in width, with a steeple, or Bell Coney, at 
the end." This building stood in the present highway, with 
the steeple at the east end and was about on a line with the 
center doorway of the First Church of today. During the 
summer of 1736 the foundation was laid and preparation 
made for raising the structure in September. 

When the frame work was nearly ready, an attempt was 
made to change the location, but the proposition was de- 
feated, a vote being passed by the town that the "new 
meeting house shall be set at ye place where it is framing." 
In a week's time the entire frame work, excepting the steeple, 
was In place. Sixty-nine gallons of rum, thirty-four pounds 
of sugar, a number of barrels of cider, and several barrels 
of beer were required for the "raising." Notwithstanding 
the amount of intoxicants consumed, the laborious task 
was accomplished without accident. 



30 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

There were three entrances to this building: the main 
one on the south, opening into the broad aisle; another 
through the steeple, facing east; the third was on the west- 
erly side. The pulpit was on the north, opposite the main 
entrance, canopied by a huge sounding board which bore 
the date 1735. It was voted that pews should be made 
around the meeting house, and seats on both sides of the 
broad aisle. Accordingly twenty-five wall pews were built 
on the ground floor, and twelve on the inside of the narrow 
aisle. The pews were either square or oblong, with high, 
straight backs. The seats were hinged, so they could be 
raised to allow more room for the occupants when standing 
during prayers, or while singing. After twenty years all the 
benches were discarded, and the entire floor supplied with 
pews. Galleries extended along three sides of the house, 
reached by stairways in the southeast and southwest corners. 
There were five pews in the gallery, opposite the pulpit. 

"Before this new meeting house was ready for occupancy 
its special need was emphasized in a most striking manner. 
A serious accident, most remarkable in its consequences 
occurred in the old meeting house. On Sunday, March 13, 
1737, during the morning service the front gallery fell. The 
building much too small for the large congregation worship- 
ping there, was filled in every part. The first great revival 
under the pastorate of Jonathan Edwards during which 
more than three hundred members were added to the church 
had not wholly ceased, and the attendance on church service 
was unusually large. About two hundred persons were in 
the gallery and immediately under it, but no one was killed 
or seriously injured. 

"Severe frosts during the winter had aff'ected the founda- 
tions much more than usual; the underpinning had been 
considerably disordered and the ends of the joists, which 
bore up the front gallery were drawn off from the girts on 
which they rested. The gallery seemed to sink in the middle 
and the people were thrown in a heap before the front door. 
The falling gallery seemed to be broken all to pieces before 
it got down, so that some who fell with it as well as those 




The "Jonathan Edwards Church" 
1737— iSl2 



THE MEETING HOUSES 3 I 

who were under it, were buried under the ruins and were 
found pressed under heavy loads of timber and could do 
nothing to help themselves. The congregation was sitting 
and the tops of the pews prevented the timbers from coming 
upon those who were under the gallery. The following 
Wednesday was set apart as a day of solemn worship to 
God and to praise his name for so wonderful and as it were 
miraculous a preservation." 

There was a strong sentiment in those early days against 
men and women sitting side by side in the meeting house, 
consequently men were assigned to the right, and women to 
the left of the pulpit. In December, 1737, the town refused 
to allow men and their wives to be seated together. At the 
same meeting a committee was appointed to "seat the new 
meeting house," with instructions to consider first, man's 
estate, second, his age, and third, in respect to his influence. 

A clock found its way into the steeple within a few years, 
but there is no record showing whether it was bought by 
the town, or presented by individuals. In 1740, Seth 
Pomeroy was paid 40 shillings for looking after the clock. 
The clock was wound by drawing up the weights, hand over 
hand, the winder standing directly beneath them. The 
rope attached was at least forty feet in length. In 1806, an 
apprentice of Mr. Nathaniel Storrs, while winding this 
clock, was killed by the falling of one of the weights, caused 
by the breaking of the rope. 

After the completion of the fourth meeting house, the 
old one was sold to Josiah Dwight, who proposed moving 
it to the corner of Main and Old South Streets, and there 
fitting it up for stores or dwellings. When Mr. Dwight had 
moved it about halfway, popular sentiment against such 
sacrilege became so intense, that a subscription was raised, 
sufficient to indemnify him in part for the expense he had 
incurred; the old meeting house was then taken down and 
the material sold. 

The bell which had hung in the second meeting house 
was moved into the third — or Jonathan Edwards Church, 
as it is better known. Here, as has been thought, it called 



EARLY NORTHAMPTON 



together the worshipers until 1760, when a committee 
was ordered to buy a new one, and to sell the old bell if 
possible, to the new church at Southampton. It was, how- 
ever, bought by the Northfield church, doing service there 
until 1824. Another was obtained at once for the Jonathan 
Edwards Church, but was soon broken, and the town was 
called together to decide about replacing it. The fragments 
were sent to Fairfield to be recast. Later, when it again 
became unsatisfactory, an attempt was made to increase 
its capacity by enlarging the tongue. In many New England 
towns the church bell was rung at noon, and at nine o'clock 
in the evening. This practice prevailed in Northampton 
until the "Old Church" was burned, in 1876. 

Mrs. James Morven Smith has discovered, among some 
old letters, mention which seems to indicate that about the 
year 1750, Old Northampton, England, presented to North- 
ampton, New England, a bell for their church, with this 
inscription upon it: — 

"I to the church the living call 
And to the grave do summon all." 

This gift, if actually made by the mother town in England, 
was doubtless in recognition of our ancestors having early 
substituted "Northampton" for "Nonotuck," as the name 
of their settlement. 

As early as 1773 the town fathers again began to agitate 
the question of building a new meeting house, and for years 
the subject was discussed. Finally, in 181 1, it was voted to 
erect the fourth house of worship to be used by the town. 
It was a great undertaking in those days, and the people 
hesitated long before committing themselves to an expendi- 
ture of fifteen or sixteen thousand dollars. 

A committee of three, William Edwards, Abner Hunt, 
and Isaac Gere, was appointed to sell the pews to raise the 
necessary money. By this means ^16,000 was secured 
from the sale of two-thirds of the house, and the committee 
reported that they had located the meeting house, partly 
on land belonging to the town, and partly on land of Dr. 



THE MEETING HOUSES 33 

Hunt, for which they had agreed to pay $1,200. This land 
extended from Main Street, down the hill to what is now 
State Street. It was low and swampy, and had been used 
as a pasture. The upper portion, ninety feet in the rear 
of the meeting house, was deeded to the town, in con- 
sideration of the $1,200; the residue was sold to Judge 
Joseph Lyman. This church stood ten feet in front of the 
present edifice. 

The building committee — Joseph Cook, Abner Hunt, 
and Oliver Pomeroy, made a contract with Peleg Kingsley, 
of Brattleboro, "to build the house above the foundation, 
according to plans of Mr. Benjamin, in a manner equal 
to that of Dr. Emerson's house in Boston." The founda- 
tion stones were furnished by citizens at "75c for thorough 
ox team loads, and 58c for good horse team loads." A 
number of persons provided boards at $7.50 a thousand. 
The average price, per day, for labor was 87c; stone layers 
received $1.16%. 

In November, a contract was made with Mr. Isaac 
Damon, famous as a builder of fine churches and bridges. 
This contract superseded that previously made with Mr. 
Kingsley, and Mr. Damon, making some changes in the 
original plans, completed the building, which was dedicated 
with elaborate ceremonies on October 28, 1812. 

A clock showing three faces, was purchased for $1,200 
and placed in the steeple. This did excellent service for 
sixty years, when a new one with four dials was substituted. 
In 1820, Mr. Benjamin Tappan, of Boston, presented the 
inhabitants of the town with "two large and valuable 
church stoves, which contributed much to the convenience 
and comfort." In 1826, Mr. Tappan also gave eighteen 
handsome lamps to be placed and used in the meeting house. 
In 1850, Mr. Eliphalet Williams presented the parish with 
an elegant chandelier. Gas was put in the house seven years 
later. 

For twenty years the subject of a church organ was 
agitated. This was a great innovation and some of the older 
and more conservative people raised strenuous opposition 



34 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

to it. But a contract was made eventually with Mr. John- 
son of Westfield, and a very fine instrument was installed 
— the best in this part of the state. The pulpit was very 
high, almost on a level with the gallery; winding stairs 
led to it on either side. In 1862, it was lowered several 
feet. The "Old Church" was one of beauty, and became 
famous in Connecticut Valley history. Mr. H. S. Gere 
has written about it as follows: 

"The greatest charm of the town and the one around 
whose memory the old timers most delight to linger was the 
'Old Church.' There was a tender sacredness about it that 
touched the heart of the inner man. Its architecture seemed 
perfect and people never tired of looking at it. It was a 
pleasing object to look at both day and night and when the 
full moon shone upon its front, its charms were brought out 
with peculiar distinctness. If its architecture was pleasing, 
its painting corresponded. It was painted white as all 
country churches should be — symbolic of purity. It was 
the pride of the town, and, indeed of the people of all the 
surrounding regions. There it stood for sixty-four years a 
majestic edifice, lofty and grand, symmetrical in form, 
beautiful in appearance, dedicated to public worship, good 
morals and good government, a never failing benediction 
upon all the people. 

"In the broad sunlight of a midsummer day, June 27, 
1876, while thousands of people gazed upon the conflagra- 
tion it fell a victim to the devouring element and was lost to 
view. Many who witnessed its destruction did so with 
heavy hearts and tearful eyes, for an object dear to them 
was passing forever away." 

Smoke was first seen issuing from the clapboards, on the 
rear corner of the meeting house near the chapel entrance, 
at about half-past five p. m., and soon came in dense volumes 
from the ventilators and steeple; flames followed rapidly, 
although the fire department was speedily at work pouring 
fourteen streams of water upon the burning building. In 
a short time the flames enveloped the steeple, many eyes 
watching their progress with painful interest. The clock 



THE MEETING HOUSES 35 

continued in motion until six o'clock; sounded the first 
stroke of the hour; then the minute hand swung back, hung 
downward for a few moments, when the steeple fell inward 
with a fearful crash. 

The present handsome brown stone structure was erected 
immediately after the burning of the famous "Old Church," 
and was dedicated, Sunday evening. May 5, 1878, entirely 
free from debt. A beautiful steeple on the southeast corner 
contains the pleasant sounding bell which calls the citizens 
to worship, and the clock marking the passing of the 
hour. In this modified Gothic structure, with its Cathedral 
glass. Rose and memorial windows; its massive columns 
and high pointed arches; soft, warm tinted walls, and hand- 
some cherry wood work, the descendants of the first twenty 
familes now assemble, to praise God and to thank Him for 
his manifold blessings. 

Thus it will be seen that five churches, in all, have graced 
Meeting House Hill during the two hundred and fifty odd 
years since the pioneers builded their log shelters. How 
enduring the fame and influence of the old first parish will 
be, time only can tell. 

"Give her of the fruit of her hands, 
And let her works praise her in the gates." 




OLD TIME LIVING 



Foreword 



With due apologies to John G. Saxe, 
Who once wrote a satire, sharp as an axe, 
And dealt severe and cutting whacks 

At American genealogy. 
This error he made when he dared to deride 
The plebeian blood of proud Miss McBride, 
He gave her no genuine family pride, 
Nor did he, alas! for the lady provide 

A proper mental histology. 



Old Time Living 



We dream of a room of long ago, — 

— That living-room with its rafters low — 

'Twas lighted and cheered by the wide hearth's glow, 

And garnished by pewter dishes in row, 

Adorning the top of the dresser; 

Its sanded floor and its busy feet, 

Its cradle-song, a lullaby sweet; 

Its altar too, where the soul might meet 

His God, as his Father Confessor. 

The fireside peace of that old-time room 

Has vanished with settle and dresser and loom; 

The gleaming firelight has faded to gloom. 

Its embers have fallen to ashes. 

But dim remembrance brings us a dream 

Of dancing firelight; anon we seem 

To catch on memory's walls a gleam 

That the olden fire-place flashes. 

In place of that room — may I say it again. ^ — 

We boast of dining-room, parlor and den, 

Of library, nursery, hall, — and then 

We live in a constant flurry; 

The telephone sounds, the door-bell rings, 

We dwell in a maze of conglomerate things; 

In place of work we have worry. 

The kitchen that once was the heart of the home 

Is now in the care of an uncertain gnome, 

A nomadic creature, accustomed to roam. 

Of foreign birth and extraction. 

And New England kitchens no longer awake 

The sweet, toothsome mem'ries of crullers and cake, 

Of pies and preserves that mother could make, 

Nor vary their goodness a fraction. 



OLD TIME LIVING 4I 



The kitchen now holds subordinate place, 
Its genius, (Pray speak in the vocative case!) 
A creature quite void of both wisdom and grace, 
An exclamation provoker! 

Then sometimes we sigh for days that are not, 
And when the air and our tempers are hot, 
We think of the back-logs' beguiling black spot 
To punch, with tongs or with poker. 

And so we have gone upstairs to dwell 
Or consigned the kitchen afar, to the ell 
And, connected therewith by electric bell, 
We've managed in some way hard to tell, 
To make it a room quite beneath us. 
Those honored sires have left record of rank. 
Their meadow-land, their wealth in the bank; 
Their kitchen they did not bequeath us! 

But you may be certain, D. A. R. friend, 
Your feminine line you can't ascend 
Without good reason to apprehend 
You'll find it tied at the further end 
To a home-made kitchen apron; 
And you will rejoice, if your fancy has wing, 
That your family line began with a string 
That encircled so worthy a matron. 

This great-grandma of yours could brew and could bake, 

She could make a fine loaf of old 'lection cake, 

And serve you a hotch-potch that Ceres would take 

And praise the gods for the mixture. 

She'd boiled-cider apple-sauce, beans and brown bread 

Of real "rye and injun," or samp in its stead; 

And our forebears never went thirsty to bed — 

The tankard of ale was a fixture. 

And think of her well-filled larder at hand! 
Improvident matron, you must understand 
She'd six months' provisions quite, at command 
Though ignorant still of aseptics. 



42 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

She'd a barrel of pork and a barrel of beef, 
Salt fish and sausages, past all belief. 
Suet and tallow; enough lard to bring grief 
To a thousand modern dyspeptics. 

Her platters of sweet corn, dried pumpkin for pies 
Adorned the door-step, regardless of flies, 
And barrels of Baldwins and Northern Spies 
Decayed in the cellar at leisure. 
Potatoes and turnips, squashes and beets. 
Red carrots, recording the summer's fierce heats. 
And cider, fomenting the orchard's stored sweets. 
Were there in o'erflowing measure. 

And strings of dried apples, defiant of germs, 
Preserves quite unknown to bacteria's terms; 
Such cheeses! Our very presence affirms 
These foods were void of bacilli. 
Had half the bugs that stern science adorn 
Existed in those days, we'd not have been born; 
Instead of which, "Secundi Nulli." 

The great brick oven was the matron's pride, 
And once each week it was opened wide; 
A huge wood fire was built inside — 
For hours the flame was kept blazing; 
When all the bricks were heated through 
The coals were removed and the ashes too. 
The chimney draught was closed in the flue. 
And the heat within was amazing. 

Beside the oven hung the long handled peel. 

And this, when sprinkled with Indian meal. 

Would take the dough to the leaves the hot depths conceal, 

To the oven's fierce heat a concession. 

The peel was considered a luck-bearing gift, 

A boon to the housewife, an aid to the swift, 

A sign of utility, plenty and thrift. 

And always a bride's proud possession. 



OLD TIME LIVING 43 



Then into the oven went brown bread and pies, 

And pots of baked beans that were ample in size; 

The numbers of pastries would cause some surprise 

To this refined generation. 

Behold apple and pumpkin, squash and mince. 

Both custard and cream of various tints; 

Our grand dames in this line were generous, since 

For pie they had real veneration. 

It paved the way to their liege lords' hearts; 

And whether 'twere served in discs or in tarts, 

'Twas classed in those days with the crafts and the arts, 

And proved "a bait" most beguiling. 

For where is that man of New England birth 

Who values not pie at quite its full worth; 

To whom, if not even suggestive of mirth 

At least 'tis a good cause for smiling.^ 

And so she spread her bounteous board 

As indeed such a store-house could amply aflFord 

And filled both bowl and charger 

With many a steaming savory dish 

Of porridge and samp; of stews and of fish. 

Ragouts and vegetables; no one could wish 

The fare or the welcome larger. 

At head of this board sat hostess and host. 
At right hand or left was honor's post, 
The place of guests esteemed most; 
The salt divided the table; 
Below this mystic line of cast, 
A boundary line, not lightly passed. 
Sat children, menials and last 
The folk of dignity unstable. 

And no course dinners in those old days, 
— A fussy fashion of modern ways — 
Were served by maids with tiny trays 
In manner aristocratic! 



44 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

But soups and vegetables, pastries and sweets, 
With porridge and pie, preserves and meats, 
The central ornaments or grand "conceits" 
Convened in a way democratic. 

When serving a fowl or a fish or a roast, 
The carving was done by the dextrous host, 
An art we've heard our sires did boast, 
Whose terms were expressed with precision. 
'Twas "Thrust a chicken," "Spoil a hen," 
And "Pierce a plover" — True gentlemen 
Must "Break a goose." If beyond one's ken 
He oft was held in derision. 

A trencher apiece was rare in those days, 

A deep extravagance, one of the ways 

Of "putting on airs," the cause of delays 

In unity and affection. 

And so, o'er a single trencher bent 

Two heads on a common thought intent. 

Two spoons that constantly came and went, 

Two souls with double digestion. 

Or if, in harmony greater still, 

From a central dish each ate his fill. 

From mouth to dish and back at will 

Plied spoons of wood or of pewter. 

No thought of ill-manners would ever encroach 

On the joy of the diners; no look of reproach 

Would mar an expression quite neuter. 

And so the sweet pumpkin stewed whole in its shell. 
Or savory hotch-potch, our sires liked so well, 
Or steaming corn pudding with seething and swell 
Gladdened the heart of the table. 
The pithy proverb that what we share 
Alone brings joy, for the gift is bare 
Unless the giver himself be there, 
Was a fact and not a fair fable. 



OLD TIME LIVING 45 



And when the bowl of foam-laden flip 

Was passed around from lip unto lip, 

Or from one tankard they often would sip, 

They lived indeed as brothers! 

But now, tho' we pledge from breakable glass 

Our toast to your health, we drink it, alas! 

Each one in the separate thought of his class, 

As sons of alien mothers. 



Then if a guest by chance appeared 

At meal-time hour he was not feared, 

(Old time politeness was not veneered) 

But he was welcomed gladly. 

And was the dinner a little shy.'' — 

In the soup more water, another pie, 

And the obstacle bridged in the wink of an eye, 

Sped the guest on his way to Hadley. 



Pray pardon this idle thought and return 

To watch the glowing hearth-fire burn 

And by its cheerful light to learn 

The olden ways of cooking. 

By iron crane, that product of skill 

Of Yankee brains, the iron pot's fill 

And brass kettle's, too, were suspended, at will, 

By various arts of hooking. 

And here was boiled the samp; the suppawn 

Slow simmered and seethed till dark from the dawn. 

For corn-meal products cook slowly. 

A pot of "boiled victuals" together en masse, 

A copper kettle of apples for "sass" 

Cook calmly in state, like creatures of class, 

While broiler with trivets, and brazier of brass 

Crouched nearer the ashes, more lowly. 



46 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

Sturdy Dutch ovens, well covered with coals, 
Produced such short-cake, such biscuit, such rolls 
As ne'er may be known to poor modern souls! 
And the skillet cooked most famous hashes. 
The towering toasting-forks, standing so tall! 
Like aristocrats trying to overlook all 
The humble viands; Pride sometimes must fall 
And hide its head in the ashes. 

How shall I show you the skimmers and pans, 

The long-handled gridirons, opening like fans, 

The caddies and spice-boxes and gay lacquered cans, 

In a view that at best is dissolving? 

The bake-kettles, jacks and little fire dogs, 

Called creepers sometimes as they crouched 'neath the logs. 

And live canines, too, trained turnspits, like frogs, 

Who kept the roast meat revolving. 

***** 

Thus in the days that once used to be 

We love to climb in the family tree, 

And read in our genealogy 

Of those stirring days so martial. 

We dream ofttimes with equal pride 

Of gentle blood on the feminine side; 

For cherished thoughts of the mothers abide 

With memory impartial. 

And so we have gazed on the homely ways 

Of olden times; in the light of those days 

Some dark shadows appear: The picture has grays 

And sombre tints in its making. 

Yet you delight to live once again 

The lives of the fathers, those early years when 

In hemp, or in homespun, your sires were the men 

Whose hands one was honored in taking. 

As you retrace your family line. 
It may grow in perspective exceedingly fine. 
But tho' you may find it ending in twine, 
'Tis linen, and every thread twisted. 



OLD TIME LIVING 



47 



Perchance 'twas a string, — it never tied tea, 
'Twas never a fetter to hinder the free, 
It proved its texture in Seventy-three, 
Its strength, by what it resisted. 

Whether the threads were strong or fine, 
Our various lines to-day intertwine; 
The shuttle of years in the loom of time 
Has woven your homespun fabric and mine 
From lives that oft were prosaic. 
But the pattern traced by the flying years. 
Is 'broidered in letters of gold, my dears. 
And D. A. R. is the name that appears 
In tapestry, rich in mosaic. 




4^ 



THE EARLY SCHOOLS 



The Early Schools 



In the study of early Northampton the process of 
evolution is seen in many directions, and in nothing is it 
more marked than in the schools. The contrast between 
the primary teaching of the earlier and of the present time 
is as great as between the older scholars of that day and the 
students in our modern college. 

We can but marvel that there were so many well edu- 
cated people then. Perhaps their very disadvantages were 
a stimulus. The school houses were poor and uncomfortable; 
the furnishings, books and materials few and inadequate; 
often the teachers very inefficient and the discipline severe. 
These conditions may have been as productive of good 
mental results as was the ancient training conducive to 
physical strength. The injunction of the early New England 
parent who said: "Child, if God make thee a good Christian 
and a good scholar 'tis all thy Mother ever asks for thee" 
was as characteristic as that of her Spartan sister, who 
parting from her son on the eve of battle commanded him 
to "Return either with your shield or upon it." 

The fact that from their meager resources the early 
fathers and mothers made such sacrifices for the training of 
their numerous children shows how highly they esteemed 
education. If, as the term implies, education is the develop- 
ment of the mind, rather than the accumulation of knowl- 
edge, the earlier methods, providing fewer helps to a short 
cut than do those of today, might have been more effective. 
Whether the finished product of the early days was inferior 
to that of our own may be subject for debate. That there 
were intellectual "giants in those days" cannot be denied. 

The contrast was great between the attitude of the New 
England colonies toward education, and that of Virginia, 
as voiced by Governor Berkeley in 1670, when he said: 
"I thank God there are in Virginia no free schools nor 
printing, and I hope we shall not have; for learning hath 



52 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

brought disobedience and heresy into the world." What 
was true of New England as a whole, has been especially 
true of Northampton, which has contributed her full share 
to the intellectual life of the last two and a half centuries. 
In its early history, New England was largely controlled by 
the Puritan ministers who felt, as one of them said, that 
"Unless school and college flourish, church and state cannot 
live." 

This sentiment led to the early founding of schools in 
every community, and of Harvard and Yale Colleges. A 
law was passed in Massachusetts in 1647 which ordered 
"that every town in this jurisdiction, after the Lord hath 
increased them to the number of fifty house-holders, shall 
then appoint one within their town to teach all such children 
as shall resort to him to write and read, whose wages shall 
be paid either by the parents or masters of said children, or 
by the inhabitants in general." 

In 1662, there were sixty-two male residents of North- 
ampton. All of them owned "medderland" and all were 
house-holders. Consequently (January 28, 1664) "the 
Town voted to give Mr. Cornish sex pounds towards the 
schoole and to take the benefit of the scoUers, provided that 
he teach sex months in the yeare together." By its vote 
the town, in accordance with the custom prevailing else- 
where, decided to combine both methods, part of the tuition 
to be paid by the town and part by the parents. 

James Cornish, the first schoolmaster, lived at the corner 
of Main and Pleasant Streets, near the site of the present 
"Union Block," coming to Northampton from Saybrook, 
Conn., about 1660. The second meeting house having been 
erected, the first one was used for a school house. Like most 
of the settlers, Mr. Cornish was a farmer. After his engage- 
ment in 1664, there is no further allusion to schools upon 
the records until January, 1667, when another teacher was 
hired. Mr. Cornish later removed to Westfield. He was, 
without doubt, a man of considerable ability and standing 
in the community, as the title of "Mr." — then an honorable 
distinction — was prefixed to his name on the records. He 



THE EARLY SCHOOLS 53 

had a habit of profanity, which in those puritanical days was 
sometimes thought to border on blasphemy, for which he 
was brought before the court and fined in the summer of 
1670. In town meeting at Westfield in opposition to some- 
thing Captain Cooke had said, he answered, "As God lives, 
that which the Captain says is false." The court decided 
that such language was unfit to be used in ordinary matters, 
and fined him ten shillings. Again he was fined twenty 
shillings, the court "highly resenting that such an aged man, 
and of his quality and profession, should so dishonor God 
and give such evil example to youth and others." 

Mr. Cornish's successor was William Janes, who came 
to Northampton in 1656. He was by profession a school- 
master and had taught several years in New Haven. His 
home lot of two acres was the second on the easterly side 
of Pleasant Street. He was hired for one year and no men- 
tion is made of further service. The agreement entered 
into between the town and himself was as follows: 

"istly. For the year (1667) he is to have out of the 
Town stock Ten Pounds which the Townsmen promise to 
pay. 

"andly. Fourpence per week for such as are in the 
primer and other English books. 

"3dly. Six pence per week to learn the Accidence, 
'wrighting', casting accounts. 

"4thly. In case there be a neglect that they do not 
come constant, three days shall be accounted as a week." 

Mr. Janes appears to have been a man of more than 
ordinary ability, and was considered sufficiently educated 
for the grade of schools he was called upon to teach. The 
early schooling in New England was of a very primitive sort. 
The only really educated men were the clergy. Textbooks 
were few and the course of study limited. The entire cur- 
riculum consisted in reading, writing, the "accidence" (or 
rudiments of English or Latin Grammar) and casting 
accounts. Primers for the younger scholars, psalter, testa- 
ments and Bibles for the older ones, who had learned to 
read, were the books most in use. The "Horn-Book" which 



54 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

contained the alphabet, the nine digits, and the Lord's 
Prayer, all on one page, so-called because the cover was made 
of translucent horn, was employed to some extent in New 
England, but not much in Northampton. Spelling did 
not come in until later. Dilworth's Spelling Book, which 
became so popular in the next century, had not been intro- 
duced. The "Accidence" was somewhat used here, but the 
accounts of the early traders in Northampton do not record 
the sale of any such books. Arithmetic — "casting accounts" 
(as it was called) could not have been taught from books, 
as few treatises on that subject had as yet found their way 
into these Connecticut Valley towns. 

The New England Primer which succeeded the Horn- 
Book, was the most universally studied schoolbook ever 
used in America. More than 3,000,000 copies were 
printed, extending over a period of perhaps two hundred 
years. When any scholar had advanced beyond the Horn- 
Book and Primer he was ready for grammar, usually Latin. 
Lilly's was used in England, and probably here to some 
extent. One Latin Grammar had this sub-title: "A de- 
lysious Syrupe newly Claryfied for Younge Scholars that 
thirsts for the Swete Lycore of Latin Speche." The first 
English Grammar used in the Boston public schools was 
"The Young Lady's Accidence, or a Short and Easy Intro- 
duction to English Grammar, designed principally for the use 
of Young Learners, more especially for those of the Fair 
Sex, tho' Proper for Either." Less than a hundred years 
ago it is said of the small children in one school that 
"They go through the whole of Webster's spelling-book 
twice in a fortnight." The writing of the first century and 
a half was not good; but that of children at the close of 
the i8th century often looked like engraving. 

It is evident that in 1668 the schools were not yet an 
established institution of the town, as the records of that 
year show that it was "voted by the town that they are 
willing to have a school-master for the year ensuing." In 
1671 Mr. Solomon Stoddard and Elder Strong were appointed 
to treat with Mr. Watson "to see whether he could be atained 



THE EARLY SCHOOLS 55 

to come and settle among us for to carry on a school." It 
is not probable that he was engaged. According to the 
records, no further attention was paid to schools for five 
years, though from a notebook of Mr. Joseph Hawley's, 
who came here the year after graduating from Harvard, it 
is clear that he was employed as teacher in 1674 and 1675. 
In 1675-76, the school was open only about two months on 
account of the Indian Wars; except for that interval, 
Joseph Hawley taught at least eight years, during a period 
extending to 1685. He had between forty and fifty scholars, 
though not so many at any one time. His was the first 
school in town taught by a man at which it is known that 
girls were present. They were private pupils, no part of 
their tuition being paid from the public funds and pre- 
sumably they were not present at the same session as 
the boys. Of these girls, eleven in number, two were 
taught writing at ten shillings each; among them were 
Mary and Hester Stoddard ("Hester" is probably Esther^ 
who afterward married Timothy Edwards). For boys 
he charged fourpence a week, for reading and writing, 
and sixpence for Latin scholars. He again taught in 
1688-89. 

In 1787, Warham Mather taught the school. He also 
was a Harvard graduate and the first native born citizen 
employed in teaching. Every town containing one hundred 
families was required by law to support a grammar school, 
at which children could be fitted for college. Northampton 
had not acted upon this matter until 1688, though it is 
probable she had the requisite number of families for some 
time previous. 

"At a legal town meeting, Jan. 2, 1688, the towne con- 
sidering the need of a school-master that should be able to 
instruct children and youth in learning, and so be able to 
instruct such children as their parents desire to bring up to 
learning, to fit them for the College, that so they may be 
fit for the Service of God in the Church, or otherwise in the 
public; voted to give 20 pound out of the towne stock, this 
to be beside what may be raised on the scholars which shall 



56 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

come to be taught by him; and ordered the Selectmen now 
to be chosen, to procure one that may be suitable for the 
service expressed, for the year ensuing." This provision 
was probably carried out, but the name of the teacher is not 
recorded. 

In 1694, Mr. Stevens and Timothy Edwards were engaged 
to teach. Timothy Edwards was somewhat eclipsed by his 
greater son — Jonathan — but was himself an unusual scholar. 
When graduated from Yale he took two degrees in one day — 
"one in the forenoon and one in the afternoon, an unprece- 
dented event." About this time the town assumed the 
entire responsibility of paying the schoolmaster. A new 
schoolhouse was built in 1694, probably near the junction 
of Main and King Streets in the vicinity of the old one. 
Other early teachers were Mr. Samuel Allis, in 1725, and 
Dr. Samuel Mather, who taught the children and practised 
medicine at the same time. 

Some of the teachers from 1765-95 were Titus King, Elias 
Lyman, Enos Wright, Nathaniel Edwards, Ezekiel White, 
Seth Stone, Dwight Foster, Levi Lyman and Levi Lincoln. 
Titus King in 1766 was paid £19 4s. for his year's work. 
It is said that Master King sometimes dismissed his scholars 
by streets — in this manner: "Prison Lane, go; Pudding 
Lane, go; Alexander Lane, go," and so on. The "Propri- 
etors' School" taught by Isaac Curzon, brought here from 
England by Dr. Levi Shepherd, was established in 1784, 
and continued until 1788. It was first opened in Elisha 
Alvord's shop which stood on the present Court House 
Park. Then the proprietors erected a building on King 
Street, about opposite the present easterly end of Dr. 
Roberts' house lot. This was one story and gambrel roofed. 
It was afterwards sold to James Ingols, the barber, moved 
to Market Street and used as a dwelling. The "propri- 
etors" were Caleb Strong, Robert Breck, Quartus Pomeroy, 
Benjamin Tappan, Joseph Dickinson, Dr. Levi Shepherd 
and Dr. Ebenezer Hunt. The higher English and classi- 
cal branches were taught. There were twenty-five pupils 
the first year, and afterward thirty-two. Girls were allowed 



THE EARLY SCHOOLS 57 

to attend this school — the first in the town to introduce 
coeducation. 

The question of fuel seems to have been a troublesome 
one in the early days of the public schools. The parents 
were required to bring a load of wood from time to time, or 
failing to do so, were fined; and it was said of some schools 
that the children of the delinquents were often seated in the 
colder parts of the room, so that the "sins of the fathers 
were," literally, "visited upon the children." 

In 1671, one hundred acres of land were set apart, the 
income from which was to be for the use of schools, and a 
few years later, more was reserved for the same purpose. 
For more than one hundred years the schools had been under 
the general supervision of the selectmen, but in 1759 a com- 
mittee of six was chosen "who with the selectmen, were to 
have jurisdiction over all the schools in town." 

In 1 791, the town accepted a legacy bequeathed to it at 
the death of Major Joseph Hawley in 1788, consisting of 
nearly one thousand acres of land, the income from which 
was to be for the "support of a school." It was voted "that 
the town, in order to perpetuate the memory of their re- 
spectable and generous benefactor, do most seriously re- 
solve that the principal of said legacy be considered as a 
most sacred deposit for the use and benefit, not only for 
the present but also for all future generations of the town. 
And that the same be forever kept good without any diminu- 
tion thereof, and that the income arising therefrom, or so 
much thereof as shall be necessary, be appropriated for the 
support of the Grammar School in the said town. And that 
the said school be in the future called and known by the 
name of the Hawley Grammar School." The property was 
sold in 1818, when the fund was reported to be $3,240. In 
1824, the school was discontinued and the income of the 
fund added to the general school appropriation. It is now 
$3,000, invested in the Northampton Institution for Savings. 
The original name is again most justly perpetuated in the 
grammar school built in recent years, on New South Street. 

About the middle of the 1 8th century new schools were 



58 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

established "in the remote parts of the town": on the 
"Plain" adjoining the Bridge Street cemetery; on South 
Street; at Pascommuck — at the foot of Mt. Nonotuck; at 
Bartlett's Mills — Easthampton; and in the second precinct. 
A school house was built at the last named place, the other 
schools probably being conducted in hired rooms. Another 
new school house was built at the center — still on the same 
spot — and a few years later one at "Lickingwater, on the 
south side of Mill River." 

In the town records the following districts were mentioned 
in 1810: 

Center District Mountain 

Plain Warren 

King Street Hill 

Lickingwater Bridgman's 

Lonetown Roberts' Meadow 

These districts were abolished in 1866. 

March 16, 1797, "The selectmen visited the schools, 
found them under good regulations and were entertained 
with a variety of performances which demonstrated that the 
pupils were making happy progress in School Literature." 
In 181 1, "It was ordered that females be directed to attend 
the Center English School from and after June 1st." In 
1815, "The Selectmen and school committee met and voted 
that the mistresses schools shall stop keeping at the expense 
of the town, and that the school-master begin the first day 
of December and keep until the money furnished by the 
town is expended. It is expected that the school districts 
will recommend such men to keep their schools as are most 
agreeable to them. Messrs. Stoddard, Dwight and Gere 
were appointed to inquire what days will be considered legal 
holidays." 

The Boys' High School was established, by special vote 
of the town, April 13, 1835, when a brick building was 
erected on Center Street, on land donated by Hon. Joseph 
Lyman. Boys of ten years and upwards were admitted. 



THE EARLY SCHOOLS 59 

Soon there were one hundred and fifty-four pupils enrolled. 
J. S. Fancher was the first principal. He had one assistant 
teacher and ten assistant pupils — or monitors, as they were 
called. Among the latter was Dr. J. G. Holland, afterwards 
so well-known as literary editor of the Springfield Republican, 
and who became famous as essayist, poet and novelist. The 
school flourished so well that in 1838 it had to be enlarged. 

A number of boys who attended school only in winter 
were, between the years 1849 and '57, accommodated in a 
"convenient and substantial building erected at great ex- 
pense" for this branch of the High School, near the old 
South Street Bridge. The principal was first called "second 
usher," and later, "Principal of the Winter Boys' High 
School." The late Joseph Marsh taught here one winter. 
The building was finally bought by the New York, New 
Haven & Hartford Railroad Company, and torn down about 
1894. 

In 1836, a Girls' High School was built near the site of 
the present High School. Six years later, through the 
generosity of Dr. Benjamin Barrett, one of the school com- 
mittee, an important addition was made to the school yard 
in front of the building, which extended it to Main Street. 
The first teachers were Henrietta S. Smith, of Troy, N. Y., 
principal; and Elizabeth M. Strong, of Belchertown, 
assistant. The town had voted to admit "all females above 
the age of ten, and under sixteen." Latin, Greek, Chemistry, 
Astronomy and Geometry were the advanced studies in 
both schools. Vocal music was taught in the Girls' School 
from the first. Later, pupils from the Boys' School came 
over to this building for weekly lessons under a special 
teacher. 

When Miss Dwight's school in the Gothic Seminary, 
which had been something of a rival of this school, was given 
up in 1848, the latter received, in consequence, many new 
accessions. Later in their history, both the Boys' and the 
Girls' High Schools were divided into higher and lower 
departments, when Miss Martha Damon became principal 
of the Boys' Branch. Miss Billings — afterwards, as Mrs. 



6o EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

Mead, principal of Mt. Holyoke College — taught at one time 
in the Girls' Preparatory School. 

In 1852, the High Schools proper were united in the 
Boys' building on Center Street, which was used for this 
purpose until 1864. It was often called the "Union High." 
One of the early principals of this school was Rev. Hiram 
Bingham, Jr., son of the distinguished missionary to the 
Sandwich Islands, of the same name. Minerva Brewster, a 
sister of Major Henry M. Brewster of Springfield, was one 
of his pupils in the old school. Later, when she was an assist- 
ant in the Girls' Preparatory School, they became engaged, 
and a red-letter day came for the school children of the town 
when the schools were dismissed that they might attend the 
wedding of these young teachers, who later were to become 
so well known as devoted missionaries to the far away 
Micronesian Islands. The fitting out, by American Sunday- 
school children, of the famous ship — "The Morning Star," 
which bore Mr. and Mrs. Bingham to the field of their self- 
sacrificing labors, has long filled an interesting page in the 
history of this remarkable family, and of missionary work 
among the islands of the Pacific. 

There was no public provision made for the education 
of girls in the early days of our country. Gov. John 
Winthrop wrote in 1640 in his History of New England: — 
"A godly young woman of special parts, who was fallen into 
a sad infirmity, the loss of her understanding and reason, 
which has been growing upon her divers years by occasion 
of giving herself wholly to reading and writing and had 
written many books. Her husband was loath to grieve her; 
but he saw his error when it was too late. For if she had 
attended to her household aflfairs, and such things as belong 
to women, and not gone out of her way and calling to meddle 
in such things as are proper for men whose minds are stronger, 
she had kept her wits, and might have improved them use- 
fully and honorably." 

Although so little was done for girls in the schools, their 
education, — left to their parents — was by no means neg- 
lected. Family instruction, dame schools — in which a 



THE EARLY SCHOOLS 6l 



"gentlewoman" would take children to her own home- 
private schools and private instruction by public school 
teachers, were the steps leading to the door of the public 
schools. In the last method, girls were sent before, and after, 
the regular school hours, and perhaps during the summer 
months. Nathan Hale, in regard to his school in New 
London, wrote in 1774 — "I have kept during the summer a 
morning school between the hours of five and seven, of about 
twenty young ladies," and this was not an isolated case. 

A few, who were able, sent their daughters to school in 
Boston. Those who were capable often taught their girls at 
home, — a good example being the daughters of Timothy 
Edwards, — whose story has been interestingly told in 
Scribner's Magazine under the title — "Ten Co-Educated 
Girls 200 Years Ago." The author relates that the daughters 
were instructed in Latin and Greek, and that in the absence 
of their father, the older girls were left to teach the young 
men whom he was fitting for college. As both Harvard 
and Yale accepted "Mr. Edwards' students" without 
examination, the instruction must have been of a high 
order. 

Girls were taught mainly reading, writing and sewing; 
and it was considered specially desirable that they be taught 
housewifely accomplishments also. The first allusion upon 
the public records of Northampton to the schooling of girls 
was in 1771, when an article was inserted in the warrant 
for the May meeting to consider the question of allowing 
females to attend the Lickingwater School. When the 
matter came up it was found that those who were to be 
benefited did not desire it, and so it was dropped. The 
effort was renewed in 1785 but with no more favorable 
results. For several years a bitter contest was waged — 
some who believed in coeducation, not favoring it at public 
expense. The advocates of the more liberal policy, however, 
slowly gained ground, and in 1792 the first vote providing 
for the education of females was passed by the town. 
"The Widow of William Butler, however, who came to 
Northampton 1794 says she found that girls did not 



EARLY NORTHAMPTON 



attend public schools in Northampton, tho' they did so in 
Pittsfield." 

The question came up annually for ten years, — in 1799 
the town refused again to appropriate any money for school- 
ing girls. But in 1802, it was voted: "That school mis- 
tresses should be provided for female children under the age 
of ten years for five months; and that female children be- 
tween the ages of 10 and 14 should have the liberty to go to 
the town schools under the direction of the selectmen for 
three months in the year — May i to Aug. I, — for the purpose 
of being instructed in writing and the higher branches of 
education." From this time onward girls have had an equal 
chance with boys in the public schools. One writer says, — 
"The doors opened slowly, grudgingly. New England con- 
servatism gave way upon this, as upon all school questions, 
reluctantly. It required nearly two hundred years from the 
founding of the first school to place girls on an equal footing 
with the boys." 

One of the most famous early private schools for girls in 
Northampton was the "Gothic Seminary," established in 
1835 by Miss Margaret Dwight and continued until 1848. 
The school was started in the house formerly standing at the 
corner of old Edwards and King Streets — the Dwight home 
at that time; earlier it had been the home of Joseph and 
Betty (Parsons) Allen. The Gothic building on Gothic 
Street was later erected to accommodate this school, and 
here were gathered two hundred girls, from far and near. 
It is said that Rev. Dr. John Todd, the first pastor of the 
Edwards Church, drew plans for the building. Miss Dwight, 
one of the seventeen children of Madame Dwight, and a 
great granddaughter of Jonathan Edwards, was a stately, 
dignified and scholarly woman. 

According to her Fifth Annual Calendar in 1840 her 
assistants were: Miss Hetty Butler; Miss Jane Damon; 
Miss Sarah Edwards, and Miss Mary Dickinson; — the 
officers: Hon. Charles A. Dewey, President; W. H. Stod- 
dard, Treasurer; J. H. Butler, Secretary. There were three 
departments: Primary, for children of six or seven years; 








• "% '"^g^- 



' M-,. 



Gothic Seminary 

Built iS^:; for Miss Margaret Dzvighfs School 



THE EARLY SCHOOLS 63 

Secondary:— seven to thirteen years; Senior; — over thirteen 
years. Especial prominence was given to the Bible. In this 
catalogue is the following introduction: "Seminaries of the 
highest order have, almost without exception, been planned 
for young ladies; while schools of a low order have been sup- 
posed good enough for children." 

"A scholastic course is not regarded as complete until 
the pupil possesses the power of abstraction, accuracy in 
discrimination and a capacity for thorough and successful 
investigation; also the ability to acquire and impart knowl- 
edge on any subject treated of in books, or otherwise pre- 
sented to the mind; also equal solicitude to establish those 
habits which are essential to the practical purpose and duties 
of life — system, order, neatness, perseverance, industry, 
patience, thoroughness and accuracy. Self-observation, 
self-government and conscientiousness are classed with the 
above as an important part of education." 

At the present time, with our splendid public schools, 
two private preparatory schools, the Hill School at Florence, 
the Smith School and Smith College — the largest college for 
women in the world— the early lack of opportunity for the 
education of girls is more than made good. 

The "Round Hill School" was perhaps one of the most 
unique in the country, and far in advance of any other of 
its time. It was established in 1823 by George Bancroft and 
Joseph Green Cogswell, who had been urged to found a 
school where boys could better fit for Harvard. Both were 
young — Cogswell about thirty-six, and Bancroft twenty- 
three. They were fine scholars, and during their travels in 
Europe had studied the schools of Germany and other 
countries. Being much impressed by the merits of one near 
Berne, Switzerland, they adopted it as a model for their own 
on Round Hill. Mr. Cogswell was the "Father of the com- 
munity or general manager. His charming manners, his 
geniality of spirit, and his kindly relations with the young, 
made him a favorite with parents and with their children, 
Mr. Bancroft did more of the actual teaching and directed 
the work of the assistants of whom there was a large and 



64 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

able staff: — Doctors Beck and Bode (German), who taught 
Latin and Greek; Doctors Follen and Grates (also German), 
instructors in German and Drawing; Mr. Gheradi, Italian; 
San A'lartin, Spanish; and others of marked ability for 
English, Mathematics, the Sciences, Singing, Writing, 
Dancing and Gymnastics." Some of their theories given in 
a prospectus are of interest: — 

"No science can be thoroughly learned without the study 
of Latin. A knowledge of the Latin tongue is essential to a 

practical education All our pupils must study Latin." 

Greek was optional, but was highly recommended. For 
modern languages, French, German, Spanish and Italian 
were taught, and excellent teachers furnished. In regard to 
Mathematics, "Provision will be made for instructing such 
as are fond of them, in the higher and more arduous branches. 
But we shall not compel all to apply themselves to a study 
for which there would seem in many minds a natural inapti- 
tude and which, though pursued in youth with a great expense 
of labor is almost always thrown aside on entering the world." 

A special feature of the school was the attention given to 
physical training, as mentioned in one of their pamphlets: — 
*'We are deeply impressed with the necessity of uniting 
physical with moral education;" "We are the first in the 
new continent to connect gymnastics with a purely literary 
establishment." They were assisted in this by a pupil and 
friend of Jahn, — the greatest modern advocate of gym- 
nastics. Besides the systematic training of the gymnasium, 
plenty of outdoor exercise was afforded — always under care- 
ful supervision. The boys skated on Mill River, bathed in 
the Lickingwater, and were taught to swim by Dr. Beck. 

"The back slopes of the hill, running far down into the 
levels, were disposed for three different uses. The first of 
these gave spacious play-grounds with a gymnasium; the 
second division was laid off for garden-lots, where each boy 
who wished might raise flowers or vegetables, with seeds and 
tools furnished to him; the third took in Mr. Cogswell's 
extensive farm grounds for fruit, hay and vegetables." 
"There were spacious barns for cattle, horses and many 



THE EARLY SCHOOLS 65 

wagons. The boys in turn rode the horses; and the wagons 
were used for journeys far and wide. One novel custom 
borrowed from the Swiss school, was the annual excursion, 
when with wagons and horses, accommodating about half 
the boys, by the 'ride and the tie' method, pilgrimages were 
made to cities even as far away as Long Island Sound, and 
the Atlantic Coast." 

Their greatest pleasure, — through the generosity of 
Mr. Cogswell, — was that of being "co-proprietors of 'Crony 
Village,' " which lay beyond the gymnasium, on a slope of 
the hill running downward to a brook. The boys were fur- 
nished with bricks and mortar, beams and boards, with which 
they made huts and shanties, where were cooked apples and 
vegetables they had raised, and the squirrels and rabbits 
they had caught. "Crony Village" came to an untimely 
end because of one of the boys carrying on so serious a 
flirtation with a rosy-cheeked vendor of pies and doughnuts 
in a neighboring farmhouse, that his expulsion was considered 
necessary, and "From Eden he took his solitary way." 
With profound anguish the boys heard from Mr. Cogswell's 
lips the agonizing words, "delenda est Carthage," — "Crony 
Village shall be no more." 

With all their pleasures, book-learning was not neglected. 
J. L. Motley speaks in one of his letters, when only twelve 
years old, of studying Greek, Latin, French, German and 
Spanish, besides Mathematics, English, etc. No boys over 
twelve were taken, though they could remain indefinitely. 
The hours of study were 6 to 7 and 8.30 to 12 a. m., 2.30 to 5 
and 8 to 9 p. m. The classes were small, never exceeding six. 

"A moral government was arrived at. Constant super- 
vision, salutary restraint, competent guidance and instruc- 
tion, and affectionate intercourse, were the means used to 
attain it. The school inculcated and enforced the great 
principles of Christianity by reverence for and observance 
of, the Sabbath; by daily morning and evening devotional 
exercises, and instruction in the Bible; and by the necessity 
of cultivating a Christian spirit and temper. It was in no 
way sectarian." 



66 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

"On Sunday morning the lines would be formed in pro- 
cession, by two and two, instructors taking their place at 
the head of sections, as each was to attend either the Uni- 
tarian, the Orthodox, or the Episcopal Church. The return 
to the Hill was in the same order, no scattering or loitering 
being allowed." Nearly a hundred years have passed; but 
we are familiar now with a similar Sunday procession; and 
the "Round Hill School" of today— "The Clarke School 
for Deaf Mutes" is not unlike its predecessor, in its spirit 
of helpfulness and in its kindly aims for the pupils. 

A list of the students, for the first eight years of the 
Bancroft and Cogswell school, included 293 names. The 
boys came from all parts of the Union, — and some from 
Canada, the West Indies, Mexico, Brazil and Europe — the 
most prominent families in the country being represented. 
There was always a long waiting list of applicants. Some 
familiar names among the students are: — Thomas G. and 
Charles S. Appleton; Wm. EUery Channing; John M. 
Forbes; Gardner Hubbard; J. L. Motley; Samuel May; 
S. Abbott Lawrence; Robert L. Livingstone; Robert G. 
Harper; — Brewster, Bates, Dwight, — Ellis (George E.), 
Samuel T. Morse; Shaw, Brevoort, Le Grand Cannon, 
Hopkins, Wm. Wirt, Rutledges, Hamiltons, Middletons, etc. 

The school came to grief about 1830. A loss of harmony 
between the two principals, and a heavy burden of debt, 
were the probable causes. Mr. Bancroft sold his share to 
Mr. Cogswell and the separation (as Mr. Cogswell says in a 
letter) "was brought about in the most perfectly harmonious 
manner and, as I believe, with the kindliest feelings on both 
sides." 

Mr. Cogswell tried to carry on the school, but the burden 
of debt was too great, and it was given up in 1834. -^^ wrote 
to a friend, "I do most bitterly lament when I call to mind 
how many and how great advantages for a school of delight- 
ful kind are collected on Round Hill, which will probably 
all be lost. I do not repine at ten years of lost labor, nor at 
so much wasted money, but I am sure no attempt to pro- 
vide such a place of early education as Round Hill was, will 



THE EARLY SCHOOLS 6/ 

soon again be made, and I grieve to think of its entire 
annihilation." 

A student of the school (George E. Ellis) later wrote in 
regard to Mr. Bancroft: — "I suppose that Mr. Bancroft, 
though meaning in all things to be kind and faithful, was, 
by temperament and lack of sympathy with the feelings and 
ways of young boys, disqualified from winning their regard 
and from being helpful and stimulating to them. He seemed 
to be more earnestly bent on learning for himself, than on 

helping them to learn For scholars of maturer 

years and high ambitions he was most warm-hearted, kindly 
and helpful as a friend, doing them various and highly 
valued services." Sometimes when a person has not made 
a marked success in one line of work, he may, perhaps, more 
than make up for it in another way; and it is interesting to 
remember, in this connection, that Mr. Bancroft conceived 
the idea of writing the history of the United States while 
he was yet a teacher on Round Hill, In Rogers Hall, one 
of the buildings of the present Clarke School, may still be 
seen the room in which he created a part, at least, of this 
valuable and famous work. 

For Mr. Cogswell the boys all had the greatest respect, 
reverence and affection. When he died the surviving 
scholars placed a monument in the cemetery at Old Ipswich, 
bearing this inscription: — 

"Joseph Green Cogswell, 

Born at Ipswich, Sept. 27, 1786, — 

Died at Cambridge, Nov. 26, 1871, 

Erected by pupils of Round Hill School, Northampton, Mass. 

In affectionate remembrance." 

In 1823, a Law School was opened in Northampton by 
Elijah Hunt Mills and Samuel Howe. It occupied a build- 
ing west of the old Warner House. The school was not large, 
but some names, afterwards famous, were enrolled. Among 
them may be mentioned Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire, 
elected President of the United States in 1852; E. H. Ran- 
som, who became Governor of Michigan; Nathaniel R. 
Sturgis of New York; Charles P. Huntington of Hadley, 



EARLY NORTHAMPTON 



later a prominent lawyer and a resident of Northampton, dis- 
tinguished as a Judge of the Superior Court of Massachu- 
setts; Osmyn Baker of Amherst and Northampton; Edward 
Blake and George A. Meredith of Boston; Jacob Crowning- 
shield of Salem; and others — many from the South. In 
1830, it became necessary to abandon the enterprise, as it 
was not found to be profitable. 

"The Collegiate Institute," a classical school for boys, 
established in 1849 by Air. Louis G. Dudley, soon won wide 
fame. It flourished for more than thirteen years, steadily 
growing in numbers and prestige; but as a large proportion 
of the pupils were from the southern states, sons of the slave- 
holding aristocracy, the clouds of the Civil War proved dis- 
astrous to the interests of the school, and it was suspended 
in 1862. In the first five years of its existence there were one 
hundred and eighty students enrolled. Edmund Clarence 
Stedman, who attended one summer, evidently made it 
lively for both teachers and students; and others, since 
prominent in diflferent walks of life, were among the pupils. 
The school occupied the "Gothic Seminary," erected in 
1835 for Miss Dwight's school and later used for "The 
Clarke School for Deaf Mutes," which Mr. Dudley was, 
also, largely instrumental in founding in 1867. In 1870, 
when the Round Hill property was secured for the Clarke 
School, the building was bought by Dr. Austin Thompson 
and opened as a home for invalids, under the name of "Shady 
Lawn." Of late years it has been owned by the Catholics 
and used as a parochial school. 

It may be fitting to close this chapter on "The Early 
Schools" of Northampton with a tribute to one of its most 
beloved teachers — Joseph Green Cogswell of the first Round 
Hill School — which appeared in the Boston Evening Tran- 
script at the time of his death in 1871: 

"Another beautiful life has come to its earthly close; 
Another earthly light is fixed as a star in the sky; 
Another patient toiler goes home to his long repose; 
Another lowly disciple goes up to his seat on high. 



THE EARLY SCHOOLS 



69 



The teacher, eager to learn, the master modest and mild, 
Has gone with his thirsty soul to the well-spring of perfect 

truth; 
The old man, in whom to the last was seen the warm heart 

of a child. 
Now drinks, with the son of God, from the fount of immortal 

youth. 

Farewell! O teacher revered, wise-hearted companion and 

friend, 
Hail newly chosen of God to be one of the shining band. 
Who summon us by their lives to be faithful unto the end, 
Whose exodus bids us arise and seek the immortal land." 

— G. T. B. 




JONATHAN EDWARDS 




Jonathan Edwards 



Jonathan Edwards 



Parkman, the historian, speaking of the eighteenth 
century, says there were two Americans who were already 
known in Europe — Benjamin Franklin and Jonathan 
Edwards. John Fiske (1900) calls Jonathan Edwards "one 
of the wonders of the world, probably the greatest intelli- 
gence that the western hemisphere has yet seen." 

Professor Allen, in his most interesting life of Jonathan 
Edwards, says, "Edwards is always and everywhere inter- 
esting, whatever we may think of his theology. On literary 
and historical grounds, alone, no one can fail to be impressed 
with his imposing figure as he moved through the wilds of 
the new world;" and he quotes the historian Bancroft as 
saying, "He who would know the working of the New Eng- 
land mind in the middle of the last century and the throb- 
bings of its heart, must give his days and nights to the study 
of Jonathan Edwards." 

Jonathan Edwards was born in East Windsor, Conn., 
October 5th, 1703. The family was of Welsh origin; the 
earliest known ancestor. Reverend Richard Edwards, was a 
clergyman of the English Church in London, in the time of 
Queen Elizabeth. His wife, marrying after his death a 
Mr. James Cole, came to America with her only son, William 
Edwards, about 1640. They settled in Hartford. The 
families of his ancestors on both sides were of true Puritan 
proportions. His grandfather Edwards had thirteen chil- 
dren, his grandfather Stoddard twelve, and he himself was 
the happy brother of ten sisters. 

His father. Rev. Timothy Edwards, minister over the 
church of East Windsor, was in many respects a remarkable 
man of unusual scholarship and learning. He was in the 
habit of fitting young men for college, and gained a reputa- 
tion as a successful teacher. To his daughters he gave the 
same training as to these students, so that they assisted him 



74 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

in the education of Jonathan, who was the fifth child. 
Dwight says, "It was the customary remark of the people 
of his parish that although Mr. Edwards was, perhaps, the 
more learned man, and more animated in his manner, Mr. 
Jonathan was the deeper preacher." 

His mother was Esther Stoddard, daughter of Rev. 
Solomon Stoddard of Northampton, who had succeeded 
both to the parish and the wife of his predecessor, Rev. 
Eleazer jMather, the first minister of the town, marrying 
her in about six months after the death of her first husband. 
She was even more unusual than her husband, and from her 
the son is said to have inherited his intellectual independence. 
She is described as "tall, dignified and commanding in ap- 
pearance, affable and gentle in her manners, and surpassing 
her husband in native vigor of understanding." The mother 
of fourteen children, the entire charge of the domestic affairs 
was left to her, that her husband might occupy himself with 
his studies. She had received a superior education in Boston 
and was always fond of books, particularly the best theologi- 
cal writers. She lived to be ninety-nine, retaining her mental 
faculties until the close of her life. 

With such parents one is not surprised to find that the 
son's education began in his infancy, and that he studied 
Latin at the age of six. At eleven he wrote a reply to some 
one who had claimed that the soul was material; and soon 
afterwards, an elaborate account of the habits of the field 
spider, based on his own observation. He was always fond 
of nature study and most appreciative of natural beauty. 
He entered Yale when not quite thirteen. 

At this time the college had no permanent abiding place, 
and in the year 1716 thirteen students resided at New Haven, 
fourteen at Wethersfield and four at Saybrook. Sometime 
in 1717, the extreme unpopularity of one of the tutors caused 
a general insurrection, when the entire student body at 
New Haven migrated to Wethersfield. In 1720, Jonathan 
Edwards graduated with the highest honors. While in col- 
lege he began to write copiously, arranging his thoughts in 
orderly fashion, classifying his manuscripts, or notebooks, 



JONATHAN EDWARDS 75 

under the titles of "The Mind," "Natural Science," "The 
Scriptures and Miscellanies;" and even then, sometime 
between the ages of fifteen and seventeen, he was projecting 
a great treatise which he hoped to publish. 

The precise period when he regarded himself as entering 
on a religious life he nowhere mentions, and even the church 
with which he became connected would not certainly be 
known, were it not that in one place he alludes to himself as 
a member of the church in East Windsor. In one of his 
papers, after speaking of his religious experience, he says, 

"After this my sense of divine things gradually increased 
and became more and more lively and had more of that 
inward sweetness. The appearance of everything was 
altered, there seemed to be as it were a calm sweet cast or 
appearance of divine glory in almost everything. God's 
excellency. His wisdom. His purity and love seemed to 
appear in everything — in the sun, moon and stars, in the 
clouds and blue sky, in the grass and forest trees, in the water 
and all nature, which used greatly to fix my mind. I often 
used to sit and view the clouds and sky to behold the sweet 
glory of God in these things, in the meantime singing forth 
with a low voice my contemplation of the Creator and 
Redeemer. And scarce anything among all the works of 
nature was so sweet to me as thunder and lightning and 
formerly nothing had been so terrible to me. Before, I used 
to be uncommonly terrified with thunder and to be struck 
with terror when I saw a thunderstorm rising, but now on 
the contrary it rejoiced me. I felt God, if I may so speak, 
at the first appearance of a thunderstorm and used to take 
opportunity at such time to fix myself in order to view the 
clouds and see the lightning play and hear the majestic 
awful voice of God in the thunder which often was exceed- 
ingly entrancing and leading me to sweet contemplation of 
my great and glorious God." 

He resided at college two years after taking his degree, 
preparing himself for the ministry and was licensed to preach 
in June, or July, 1722, several months before he was nineteen 
years old. In August of that year he went to New York, 
where he preached for eight months, but for some reason he 
did not desire to remain there for life, as he was strongly 
urged to do, and returned to his father's house. The length 



76 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

of time required for the trip from New York to Wethersfield 
is amusing to one, in this age of rapid transit. Leaving New 
York Friday morning, the boat stopped at Westchester for 
the night. Saturday night and Sunday were spent at Say- 
brook, reaching Wethersfield Tuesday evening, and the 
voyage is spoken of as "very pleasant." He passed the next 
summer in close study at his home. In 1723, he was elected 
tutor at Yale College, but as there was no vacancy in the 
office, he spent the winter in study, and in June began 
teaching. 

After two years' service as tutor he received the call to 
the church in Northampton. Dwight says, "Many circum- 
stances conspired to prompt his acceptance. He was ac- 
quainted with the place and the people. The Rev. Solomon 
Stoddard, his grandfather, a man of great dignity, and of 
singular weight and influence in the church, in consequence 
of his advanced age stood in need of his assistance and wished 
him to be his colleague. His father and all his other friends 
desired it. The situation was itself respectable and the town 
unusually pleasant.'''' He accepted the call, and on Febru- 
ary 15th, 1727, was ordained and installed here, being then 
twenty-three years old. 

Although his health was never good, by careful attention 
to food and regular exercise he was able to accomplish what 
would have been otherwise impossible to a much stronger 
man. He rose between four and five in the morning, and 
spent thirteen hours every day in study. His usual diver- 
sion was riding horseback, or walking, and he decided before 
leaving home what should be the subject of his thought. In 
thinking it over, and reaching a certain conclusion, he would 
pin a piece of paper to his coat and charge his mind to asso- 
ciate the paper with the train of thought; then he would 
repeat the process with a second paper and a second train of 
thought, sometimes returning with many such papers; and 
taking them from his coat in regular order, would write 
down the line of thought and the conclusion, which each 
suggested. Absorbed in meditation he was oblivious to all 
else. 



JONATHAN EDWARDS "J"] 

On the 28th of July, 1727, Jonathan Edwards married 
Miss Sarah Pierpont, of New Haven, daughter of Reverend 
James Pierpont, one of the principal founders and trustees of 
Yale College. She was eighteen years old, very beautiful, 
both in mind and body, and had received a fine education. 
"In manner she was gentle and courteous and the law of 
kindness seemed to govern all her conversation and conduct." 
They had been acquainted for several years, and in 1723 he 
had written the following often quoted, and most beautiful 
description: 

"They say there is a young lady in New Haven who is 
beloved of the Great Being who made and rules the world, 
and that there are certain seasons in which this Great 
Being, in some way or other Invisible, comes to her and fills 
her mind with exceeding sweet delight and that she hardly 
cares for anything except to meditate on Him, that she 
expects after a while to be received up where He is, to be 
raised up out of the world and caught up into heaven, being 
assured that He loves her too well to let her remain at a dis- 
tance from Him always. There she is to dwell with Him and 
to be ravished with His love and delight forever. Therefore, 
if you present all the world before her with the richest of its 
treasures she disregards it and cares not for it and is un- 
mindful of any pain or affliction. She has a strange sweet- 
ness in her mind and singular purity in her aflFections, is 
most just and conscientious in all her conduct; and you 
could not persuade her to do anything wrong or sinful if you 
would give her all the world, lest she should offend this Great 
Being. She is of a wonderful sweetness, calmness and uni- 
versal benevolence of mind, especially after this Great God 
has manifested Himself to her mind. She will sometimes go 
about from place to place, singing sweetly; and seems to be 
always full of joy and pleasure, and no one knows for what. 
She loves to be alone, walking in the fields and groves and 
seems to have some one invisible always conversing with 
her." 

This was written when the young lady was thirteen years 
old. Mr. Stoddard died in 1729 when Mr. Edwards became 
the sole pastor of the church, which was the only one in 
town, and at that time included most of the townspeople. 

The ideal of the Puritans who settled Alassachusetts was 



78 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

a theocracy in which only members of the Congregational 
churches in full communion should have the right to vote or 
hold office. From the first there were those who dissented 
from this policy, and while many, for this reason, left the 
state to found colonies in Connecticut and Rhode Island, 
enough remained so that, at the time of the death of Charles 
II., it was reckoned that four-fifths of the adult males of 
Massachusetts were disfranchised, because of inability to 
participate in the Lord's Supper. Very naturally this large 
number with no voice in the affairs of the colony were con- 
tinually stirring up strife. 

In view of such difficulties, about 1650, an opinion began 
to be prevalent that all baptized persons, of upright and 
decorous lives, ought to be considered, for practical purposes 
at least, as members of the church and therefore entitled to 
vote, even though unqualified to take part in the Lord's 
Supper. This theory by which a person might be a half-way 
member of the church — member enough for political, but 
not for religious purposes — -was known as the Halfway 
Covenant, and was the cause of long and bitter controversy, 
in which prominent clergymen took opposite sides. Fiske 
says, "It was contended by some that its natural tendency 
would be toward the spiritual demoralization of the church, 
while others denied that such would be its practical effects 
and pointed to the lamentable severance between ecclesias- 
tics and laymen as a much greater evil. 

In the First Church, Boston, the Halfway Covenant was 
decidedly condemned, so that a number who approved it 
seceded in 1669 and formed a new society known as the South 
Church, later the Old South. That the spirituality of the 
churches in the early half of the eighteenth century was at a 
very low ebb, is notably true; and while both the Old and 
the New World were affected and many other causes assigned, 
it seems to be generally conceded that the Halfway Covenant 
was one of the baneful influences at work in the Massachu- 
setts churches; for while in the beginning its supporters 
simply allowed baptized members of the congregation to vote 
and hold office, without allowing them to take part in the 



JONATHAN EDWARDS 79 

communion until the\' could give some testimony of religious 
experience which fitted them for such participation, later 
all who had been baptized in infancy were admitted. Rev. 
Solomon Stoddard began to advocate this in 1679, and it was 
adopted by the First Church of Northampton in 1706. 

In the winter of i734-'35 began, through the preaching 
of Mr. Edwards, a most remarkable interest in religion which 
spread, not only to the neighboring towns but largely 
throughout the state and into Connecticut, and is known as 
"The Great Revival." Mr. Trumbull in the "History of 
Northampton" notes the marked beneficial effect of this 
revival upon all classes of the townspeople. "This was 
especially noticeable in the conduct of public affairs. Faction, 
which had long overridden the community, was well nigh 
obliterated. The two parties into which the town had for so 
long been divided were essentially merged into one. The 
temper of the people was greatly softened, they were more 
guarded in their conversation with each other and the town 
meetings were carried on with less heat and acrimony. One 
of the most memorable results of this state of feeling was the 
settlement of the controversy about the common lands which 
had agitated the town for more than a generation." 

It was undoubtedly one of the most remarkable events 
of the kind that has ever occurred. Upwards of fifty persons 
over forty years of age, ten over ninety, thirty between ten 
and fourteen and one oi four became, in the opinion of Mr. 
Edwards, changed persons. In all, over three hundred 
persons united with the church at this time, making the 
entire membership about six hundred and twenty, which 
included nearly all the adult inhabitants of the town. From 
adjacent villages, also, great numbers resorted to him and 
many clergymen from various parts of the country. 

That his health, never strong, was not broken at this 
time, he ascribes, probably with perfect truth, to the watch- 
ful care of his wife, who accounted it her greatest glory, and 
that by which she could best serve God and her generation, 
to be the means, in this way, of promoting his usefulness and 
happiness. She was a tender nurse to him, cheerfully attend- 



8o EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

ing upon him at all times, and in all things ministering to his 
comfort. And no one could be familiar with the family 
without observing and admiring the perfect harmony and 
mutual love and esteem that existed between them. They 
had at this time been married nine years, and had five chil- 
dren, so we can perhaps appreciate the meaning of the fol- 
lowing sentence: "At the same time when she herself 
labored under bodily disorders and pain, which was not 
infrequently the case, instead of troubling those around her 
with her complaints and wearing a sour or dejected counte- 
nance, as if out of humour with everybody and everything, 
she was accustomed to bear up under them, not only with 
patience but with cheerfulness and good humour." She took 
almost the whole direction of the domestic affairs of the 
family, without-doors and within. Always easy and affable 
in her manners, she was remarkable for her kindness to her 
friends, and the visitors who resorted to her husband, sparing 
no pains to make them welcome and to provide for their con- 
venience and comfort. She was peculiarly kind to strangers. 
The account of her religious experience is most remarkable, 
and was so considered by her husband. 

George Whiteiield, a young clergyman of the Church of 
England, came over to preach on the invitation of Rev. 
Benjamin Coleman of the South Church, Boston. He made 
a pilgrimage to Northampton to visit the preacher of the 
great revival, and thought he had never seen such a man as 
Edwards; and it is said under the influence of Whitefield's 
wonderful voice Edwards sat weeping through the entire 
sermon. Whitefield speaks most enthusiastically of Edwards' 
wife and family. "A sweet couple," he calls them; and 
prays the Lord to send him a wife, whomever he pleases — 
adding, "I have no choice of my own." The writer of the 
story says Whitefield should have known that the Lord 
doesn't make sweet couples of those who have no choice of 
their own. 

In 1735, Edwards, by request of Dr. Coleman of Boston, 
wrote an account of the great revival, which was published 
in London under the title "Narrative of Surprising Conver- 




TJu 



The Edwards Elm and Whitney House 
Site of the Jonathan Edwards home 
'dm tree, planted by Mr. Ed-wards, fell August Sth, IQJJ 



JONATHAN EDWARDS 8 I 

sions," and was very extensively read, both in England and 
Scotland. In this latter country, especially, Edwards had 
many admirers. One of these, the Rev. Adr. Erskine, desiring 
his portrait, sent to an English artist, who was in Boston, an 
order for a portrait of Edwards, and one of his wife. These, 
after Mr. Erskine's death, were left to the Edwards family, 
and from them have been taken all the pictures known. 

Under date of March 19th, 1737, Edwards writes to 
Mr. Erskine: "We in this town were the last Lord's Day 
the spectators of one of the most amazing instances of Divine 
protection that perhaps was ever known in the world." The 
meeting house, at this time about seventy years old, was in 
very bad condition and a new one was about to be built; 
meanwhile the greatly increased congregation worshipped 
in the old building until this day of which Mr. Edwards 
speaks, when, in the midst of the service, the whole gallery 
full of people, suddenly, without any warning, sank and fell 
upon the heads of those who sat under it. The house was 
filled with dolorous shrieking and crying, and nothing else 
was expected than to find many people dead or dashed to 
pieces. The falling gallery seemed to be broken all to pieces 
before it got down, so that some who fell with it, as well as 
those that were under, were buried in the ruins and were 
pinned fast under heavy loads of timber. 

"And so mysteriously and wonderfully did it come to pass, 
that every life was spared, and though many were greatly 
bruised, yet there was not one bone broken or so much as 
put out of joint. Only one young woman seemed to be in a 
dangerous condition, by reason of some internal injury; but 
even she soon gave hope of complete recovery." Edwards 
says, "It seems impossible to ascribe it to anything else but 
the care of Providence, in so shaping the motion of every 
piece of timber and the precise place of safety where everyone 
should sit, and fall where none were in any capacity to care 
for their own safety." The preservation seems most wonder- 
ful with regard to the women and children in the middle 
alley, under the gallery, where it came down first with noth- 
ing to break the force of the falling weight. 



EARLY NORTHAMPTON 



In 1744 began the first radical difference between 
Edwards and his people. Ten years after his coming, there 
had been signs of disaffection, but the great revival seemed 
to have quenched these murmurings. Now, however, arose 
a case of discipline in the church. Several young people of 
good families were accused of reading immoral books. By 
the request of A-lr. Edwards, and upon the testimony of many 
persons, the church voted that inquiry should be made into 
the matter; a committee was appointed and the guilty ones 
were summoned before it; very few appeared, and the con- 
tempt for the authority of the church thus displayed, greatly 
weakened its influence. 

From this time Mr. Edwards' popularity began to de- 
cline; his people seemed in many ways out of sympathy 
with him, and when he came to feel that he could not admit 
members to the church without a certain amount of religious 
experience, the great majority rose up against him. At the 
time of the settlement of Mr. Edwards in Northampton the 
Halfway Covenant had been in operation for over twenty 
years, and although he himself had some hesitation over the 
matter, considering that it had the full sanction of his revered 
grandfather. Rev. Solomon Stoddard, and also of most of the 
other ministers and churches of the county, he seems to have 
accepted it in good faith, until a thorough study of the sub- 
ject convinced him that it was wrong and that he could not 
admit to membership of the church, persons who showed no 
evidence whatever of a real Christian spirit and life. 

When Mr. Edwards' sentiments became generally known, 
in the spring of 1749, it caused great offense; "the town was 
put into a great ferment and before he was heard in his own 
defence, or it was known by many what his principles were, 
the general cry was to have him dismissed." A few loyal 
friends he had, and they rallied to his support. The town 
was convulsed with the dispute. Town meetings, which 
were the church meetings, followed each other in quick 
succession; — then the council — and he was dismissed, turned 
out of his church, adrift upon the world after twenty-three 
years of service, at the age of forty-seven, with a large family 



JONATHAN EDWARDS 83 

of children, with no means of support, and doubtful if he 
should ever obtain another parish. 

But he triumphed even in his fall, not only in the beauti- 
ful spirit with which he accepted the great wrong but in the 
opinion of the churches which, without a single exception, 
came over to his thought, so that we of to-day find it hard 
to understand how there could have been such a practice as 
was implied in the Halfway Covenant. Some of those who 
were his most bitter enemies afterwards apologized most 
humbly, but the fact of his dismissal remains as a blot upon 
our records. 

With gratitude we read from Major Joseph Hawley's 
letter, published in a weekly newspaper in Boston, May 19th, 
1760: 

"... .yet I beg leave to say that I really apprehend that 
it is of the highest moment to the body of this church, and 
to me in particular, most solicitously to enquire, whether 
like the Pharisees and lawyers in John the Baptist's time, we 
did not reject the counsel of God against ourselves in reject- 
ing Mr. Edwards and his doctrine which was the ground of 
his dismission. And I humbly conceive that it highly 
imports us all of this church, most seriously and impartially 
to examine what that most worthy and able divine published 
about that time in support of the same, whereby he being 
dead yet speaketh. . . .The most criminal part of my con- 
duct was my exhibiting to the Council a set of arguments 
in writing. . . .which writing by clear implication contained 
some severe, uncharitable, and, if I remember right, ground- 
less and slanderous imputations on Mr. Edwards expressed 
in bitter language. Indeed I am fully convinced, that the 
whole of that composure, excepting a small part thereof. . . . 
was totally unChristian, a scandalous, abusive, injurious 
libel against Mr. Edwards and his particular friends, espe- 
cially the former, and highly provoking and detestable in 
the sight of God, for which I am heartily sorry and ashamed, 
and pray that I may remember it with deep abasement and 
penitence all my days." 

The farewell sermon was preached in August, 1750; his 
last sermon in the town October, 1751, according to the 
diary of Rev. Mr. Judd of Southampton who preached the 
morning of the same day. In December, 1750, Mr. Edwards 



84 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

had been invited by the church in Stockbridge to become 
their minister, and also had been asked, by the Commis- 
sioners in Boston of the "London Society for propagating 
the Gospel in New England and the parts adjacent," to 
become missionary to the Housatonnucks or River Indians 
located near Stockbridge. He went to Stockbridge in Janu- 
ary, 175 1, and stayed for several months preaching both to 
the English people and to the Indians. Soon after his return 
he decided to accept the call and was installed there the 
following August. 

Not being able to sell his house here for some time, he 
was greatly embarrassed and obliged for a time to practice 
the most rigid economy, so that his daughters lent their aid 
by their embroidery; also by making lace, and by making 
and painting fans, which were sold in Boston. In the mean- 
time Reverend Solomon Williams having written a pamphlet, 
concerning the question brought up in the controversy with 
the church in Northampton, Edwards wrote a reply with the 
title "Misrepresentations Corrected and Truth Vindicated 
in a reply to Rev. Solomon Williams' book entitled 'The 
True State of the Question concerning Qualification neces- 
sary to lawful Communion in the Christian Sacrament;' 
and greatly fearing the effects of the errors abounding in 
Mr. Williams' work, he appended a most affectionate 
pastoral letter to his late people in Northampton. 

The time of his arrival at Stockbridge was one of great 
confusion in the affairs of the Indians. There was plenty of 
money for the work, some people in England being greatly 
interested and contributing most liberally, but on the part 
of some of the white settlers there was a desire to appropri- 
ate the funds, and leave the poor Indians to look out for 
themselves. Allen says, "The story of Edwards' relations 
with the Indians reads like an extract from a modern news- 
paper detailing the conflict between the enemies and friends 
of this unfortunate people; private avarice diverting funds 
from their proper channel, while an honest, incorruptible 
man refuses to make himself a party to the transaction." 
Among his enemies were several members of a family who 



JONATHAN EDWARDS 85 

had been most hostile to him in Northampton, and the 
account of his connection with them suggests some bitter 
feud that has never been explained. 

While in Stockbridge, Edwards wrote the "Freedom of 
the Will," which has caused such endless discussion, and 
which is still spoken of as "the one large contribution which 
America has made to the deeper philosophic thought of the 
world;" and "one of the literary sensations of the last 
century;" also his "Treatise on Grace," "Original Sin," 
and the "History of Redemption." 

Shortly after this time he received what would now be 
called a most flattering offer to a large parish in Virginia, 
with a handsome salary, but being already installed in 
Stockbridge, he declined it. In a most interesting letter to 
Mr. Erskine he speaks of the marriage of his daughter, 
Esther, to Rev. Aaron Burr, of Princeton; also of books 
which Mr. Erskine had sent him, and says, "I am fond of 
knowing how things are going in the literary world." 

His life in Stockbridge was for six years only, for Aaron 
Burr, his son-in-law, dying in 1757, the corporation of Prince- 
ton chose Jonathan Edwards to be his successor, as Presi- 
dent. The news of his appointment was a very great sur- 
prise to him and it is said, "He looked on himself in many 
respects as so unqualified for that business that he wondered 
that gentlemen of so good judgment and so well acquainted 
with him as the trustees, should think of him for the place." 
By the advice of his friends he was induced to accept the 
position, and resigning his place in Stockbridge, went to 
Princeton in January, 1758, leaving his family to be moved 
in the spring. A quaint sentence thus tells of his installa- 
tion in office: "The corporation met as soon as could be 
with convenience after his arrival at the college where he 
was by them fixed in the president's chair." 

His service here was very brief. Being inoculated for 
smallpox by the advice of a physician and the trustees of 
the college he died on March 22d, at the age of fifty- 
five. When he knew that he could not survive he sent this 
beautiful message to his wife in Stockbridge: "Give my 



86 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

kindest love to my dear wife and tell her that the uncommon 
union which has so long subsisted between us has been of 
such a nature as I trust is spiritual, and therefore will con- 
tinue forever." 

The Boston Gazette, April loth, contained this notice: 
"On Wednesday the 22nd of last month died by inoculation 
at Nassau Hall an eminent servant of God, the Rev. pious 
Mr. Jonathan Edwards, President of the College of New 
Jersey, a gentleman of distinguished abilities and a heavenly 
temper of mind, a most rational, generous, catholic and 
exemplary Christian admired by all who knew him for his 
uncommon candor and disinterested benevolence, a pattern 
of temperance, meekness, patience and charity, always 
steady, calm and serene, a very judicious and instructive 
preacher and a most excellent divine." 

Mrs. Burr also died sixteen days after her father so that 
the wife and mother was called to sustain a double grief. 
But she could write to her daughter: "The Lord has done 
it and He has made me admire His goodness that we had 
him so long. O, what a legacy my husband and your father 
has left us. We are all given to God and there I am and love 
to be." She did not long survive her husband; going to 
Philadelphia to take charge of her orphan grandchildren 
and to bring them to her own home, she was taken violently 
ill and died there October 2nd. One daughter, Jerusha, had 
died ten years before and one died soon after the mother; 
so that of the eleven children, only three daughters remained. 

Because of his stern theology we have called Jonathan 
Edwards hard and unfeeling, forgetting the wonderful 
beauty of his family life, his great love and keen apprecia- 
tion of natural beauty, and that his very hardness was in- 
spired by a burning love for men, a desire to open their eyes 
to the results of their own wrong doing and to draw them 
into the great harmony of life. One brief quotation from 
his farewell sermon will show the spirit of the man. It was 
addressed to those who had been his friends and adherents: 
"Indulge no revengeful spirit in any wise; but watch and 
pray against; and by all means in your power seek the 



JONATHAN EDWARDS 8/ 

prosperity of this town, and never think you behave your- 
selves as becomes Christians but when you sincerely, sensi- 
bly and fervently love all men, of whatever party or opinion, 
and whether friendly or unkind, just or injurious to you or 
your friends, or to the cause and kingdom of Christ." 

Two short quotations from his Nature Studies, written 
before he was seventeen, show his keen observation, and help 
us to imagine what might have been the result of his scien- 
tific thinking had he turned his mind in that direction rather 
than toward theology. "It follows that as great, and as 
wonderful power is every moment exerted in upholding the 
world, as at first was exerted in the creation; so that the 
universe is created out of nothing every moment, and if it 
were not for our imagination, which hinders us, we might 
see that wonderful work performed continually, which was 
seen by the morning star when they sang together. There 
is that which is peculiarly wonderful in trees, beyond any- 
thing that is to be found in the inanimate world, even in the 
manner of their growing from the seed. Their amazing 
diversification into such curious branches, leaves, flowers, 
fruits and seeds, and so successively from one seed to another, 
in the same manner from age to age, forever." 

"It appears the single particles of morning fog are not 
single bubbles of water; I have seen frozen fog — a fog of 
which these particles were all frozen as they floated in the 
air — which were all little stars of six points, like the particles 
of snow, very small, and were not joined together, many of 
them into one flake as in snow, but floated single, and at a 
little distance looked every whit like other fog, only not so 
thick as other fog often is, and not so thick as to hinder the 
sun from shining bright. It was evident that it was not a 
fine snow, for it was otherwise a very clear morning and there 
was not a cloud anywhere to be seen above the horizon. It 
is therefore evident that before they were frozen they were 
not single bubbles inasmuch as a single bubble will not make 
one of these stars," 



THE BURYING GROUNDS 



The Burying Grounds 



The people of Nonotuck evidently manifested an early 
interest in a burial place for the dead, and in accordance with 
the system in their old English homes, the churchyard was 
the spot chosen and used for this purpose, from 1654 to 1661, 
during which period there were ten deaths. 

The first occurred in January, 1655, that of James 
Bridgman, whose burial is thus described by J. G. Holland: 
"The great events of birth, death and marriage, so common 
in large communities as to cause hardly a ripple on the surface 
of society, were, in that young settlement, matters to be 
talked about for days. The first child was doubtless received 
with a universal flutter of delight, and the reverent and 
grateful feelings of the mother found expression in the name 
— Ebenezer (Parsons). And when David Burt and Mary 
Holton held one another by the hand in pledge of lifelong 
love and companionship, were there no tears in view of the 
trials that surrounded them and lay before.^ 

There was not a wild flower for the bride's hair, and very 
scanty must have been the marriage feast. But when death 
first broke into the little band, and a grave was to be made 
in the wilderness, how sad and solemn must have been the 
scene. The rude coffin, by the door of a ruder cabin, was 
placed out in the calm, cold light of the winter morning. The 
planters came, one after another, with their wives and chil- 
dren. And when, after a fervent prayer from some patri- 
archal voice, the sleeper was borne off, by a half-worn path, 
to the place of burial on Meeting House Hill, what tears and 
sobs made strange notes among the shivering trees." 

Northampton was really, at this time, in a wilderness; 
savages were numerous, and the nearest English settlements 
in this state, except the one at Springfield, were at Concord 
and Sudbury, eighty miles away. 

In 1661, the town voted that no more burials should be 
made near the Meeting House, and the present location was 



92 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

selected. Our forefathers must have taken a long look ahead, 
for Aleeting House Hill was almost bare at this time, and 
for many years had no buildings nearer than the school- 
house and court house, at the junction of Main and King 
Streets, and the minister's house, on the corner of Pleasant 
Street. 

Six years after the arrival of the original settlers, when 
Eleazer Alather came to be the first minister, ten acres of 
land were set apart on the "Pine plain," as records state, 
"sequestered for a perpetuall standing lot for the ministry 
and never to be Altered but to Contynew successively to that 
function for the encouragement of the ministry in the towne 
of Northampton." The revenue from this grant was to be an 
addition to the minister's salary. Yet only two years after- 
ward, a portion of it, apparently without definite bounds, 
was selected for a burying place, and in 1783 Trumbull says 
it became necessary to define carefully the limits of this 
"sequestered lott," because adjoining owners had taken 
liberties with it. The work of fencing the burying ground 
was then put into the hands of a committee, and the dimen- 
sions were fixed at "tenn rods square," or a little more than 
half an acre. This was enclosed by a wall, probably com- 
posed of loose stones gathered upon the commons, and piled 
in the usual manner of an agricultural fence. 

In the course of years the enclosure became too small and 
was gradually enlarged from the surrounding plain, until 
eventually, the burying place seems to have taken in all the 
"lott" originally sequestered for the ministry, except the 
little Bridge Street park. The whole area now includes from 
twenty-eight to thirty acres. About one hundred years ago, 
the portion from the main avenue, westerly to Pine Street, 
w^as added; in 1833, five acres more, from Pine Street to the 
Tool House. In 1864, John Clarke gave an old pasture, 
through which ran a brook, since covered. In 1900, the 
strip adjoining Orchard Street was added, and, in 191 1, 
another lot was bought of H. L. Hinckley. 

When Mr. Christopher Clark was asked if he knew any- 
thing more definite in regard to the history of the cemetery. 



THE BURYING GROUNDS 93 

and the connection between the "sequestered minister's 
lott" and the little park, he answered — "Oh no, I don't 
know anything about that, and I don't consider it important, 
but I can tell you something more interesting. In the old 
days there was a collection of buildings in front of the ceme- 
tery that couldn't be matched in the country: a school house; 
a gun house where the artillery company kept their cannon; 
and a hearse house. You see they had the place where they 
educated the children; the place where they prepared to kill 
people; and the carriage ready to take them to the place 
near by, where they were to be buried." 

In the library of Amasa Wade was found a curious 
little pamphlet printed by T. Watson Shepard, in 1824, 
entitled "Register of deaths in Northampton from the first 
settlement in 1654, to August 1824, taken from the records 
of the town, and the doctors of that period." In the years 
1675 and 1676 some thirty persons were slain by the Indians, 
and as late as 1708 deaths continued from this cause. In 
1801 and 1802 there was an extraordinary number of deaths 
from dysentery, when panic must have seized the town. 
Some curious deaths are reported: John Wyes perished in a 
hard snow storm in 1803. John Allis was said to have been 
hung by "his wife and an Irishman." Widow Margaret 
Bryant "perished in the woods;" Martin Ely "was killed by 
the fall of a clock-weight;" David Sparks' child "perished 
in the woods" as late as 1809. 

No stones mark the burial places of many of the early 
inhabitants. The oldest, near a pine tree on the knoll at 
the east end of the yard, is so much defaced by time that only 
a few letters can be traced, but it is supposed to mark the 
grave of Captain Elisha Gray, who died in 1683. 

Mr. E. B. Strong, who was sexton* for thirty-three years, 
when appealed to for information said: "If I should begin 
to tell you about the fine families that have been buried there, 
I shouldn't know when to stop. When Mr. Josiah Parsons 



♦Sextons of Northampton Cemetery: — Nathan Tanner, Died 1840; Cephas Clark, 
1840-1864; Alexander Edwards, 1864-1876; Edward B. Strong, 1876-1909; James W. 
McCallum, April 1st, 1909. 



94 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

was living he used sometimes to come over and go about 
among the old graves with me, and many were the interesting 
stories he told of the famous old families." 

Truly we can boast a noble band of saints and martyrs. 
First, Eleazer Mather, who "died in 1669 aet. 32." This 
quaint inscription is upon the stone at his grave: 

"Here he labored for eleven years in the vineyard 
of our Lord, and the twelve hours of his labour did 
expire, not without the deepest lamentations of all 
the churches sitting along the river Connecticut, as 
well as of his own. As he was a very zealous preacher 
and saw many seals of his ministry, so he was a very 
pious teacher and as he drew toward the end of his 
days he grew remarkably ripe for heaven, in a holy, 
watchful and fruitful disposition." 

On the table monument over Rev. Solomon Stoddard's 
grave is inscribed: 

"Here is intered 
The body of the 
Rev. Mr. Solomon Stoddard, A.M. 

Sometime fellow of Harvard College, Pastor of ye 
church in Northampton, N. E. for near 60 years, who 
departed this Life 11 February 1729 and in the 86 
year of his age; A Man of God, an able minister of the 
New Testament, singularly qualified for that sacred 
office and faithful therein. A light to the churches in 
general, a peculiar blessing to this; Eminent for the 
holiness of his life, as remarkable for his peace at 
death." 

There is a memorial monument to Jonathan Edwards, 
but his body lies in Princeton, N. J. Rev. John Hooker and 
Rev. Solomon Williams are buried in this old Northampton 
cemetery; also Rev. David Brainard, the well- remembered 
missionary to the Indians, who was only twenty-nine years 
old when he died, with his betrothed, Jerusha Edwards, a 




u 



M 



o 
(J 

bo 



O 



THE BURYING GROUNDS 95 

daughter of Jonathan Edwards, who died at seventeen years 
of age. There is a memorial stone to the Rev. Henry Lyman 
of The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mis- 
sions, who, with his associate, Rev. Samuel Monson, suffered 
a violent death from the Battahs, of Sumatra, in 1834, at 
the age of twenty-four. There is also a stone to Rev. David 
Stoddard, for fourteen years a missionary to the Nestorians 
in Persia (1857); and one for Gordon Hall, one of the first 
missionaries of the "American Board," who died in India in 
1824. 

In this old burying ground may be seen also the grave of 
Rev. John Hunt, a well-known pastor of the "Old South" 
church in Boston; that of Rev. William Allen, president of 
Bowdoin College, and the father of a large and noted family; 
and those of Rev. Caleb Tenney, whom Solomon Clark called 
"a man of princely intellect;" and of Rev. D. M. Crane, 
pastor of the Baptist Church. On the monument erected in 
memory of the latter, is written: 

"The resting place of travelers on their way to 
Jerusalem." 

In this sacred ground rest the following senators: Gov. 
Caleb Strong; Elijah Hunt Mills; Isaac Bates; Eli Ash- 
man; these judges: Charles Dewey, William Allen; Charles 
Forbes; Hamilton Staples; Joseph Lyman; Samuel Lyman; 
Samuel Spaulding and Samuel Henshaw, and these prominent 
lawyers: Osmyn Baker; Charles Delano; Charles P. 
Huntington and Samuel Hinckley. There are graves of 
one hundred and thirty Revolutionary soldiers and two 
hundred of the Civil War. A quaint sandstone slab, a 
memorial to General Seth Pomeroy, who is buried at Peeks- 
kill, N. Y., stands beside the grave of his wife. 

Among graves of doctors of the old days are those of 
Charles Seegar, James and Daniel Thompson, Benjamin 
Barrett and Doctors Hunt and Mather. In this connection 
it may not be out of place to give some passages from the 
will of Doctor Seegar. He was a man who, though eccentric, 
was possessed of sound sense, and was a radical thinker; 



96 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

but his will, while directing a division of his property in the 
usual common-sense manner, was so curiously worded that 
it created a great sensation when it was opened and read, 
sixty-five years ago. He directed that on the third or fourth 
day after his death, his executor should "see his body 
wrapped in an old blanket" and "placed in an old pine box, 
the lid of which must not be screwed down, and carried to 
my tomb near my old ice house by the assistance of some 
hired men and my wheel barrow." He further said: "I 
entirely disapprove of it if my wife or children, induced by 
foolish fashion, should so far gratify the curiosity of the idle 
of this town, as to invite them by the sound of church bells, 
to fill the house and to make business for a person engaged 
to clean up the rooms again. I flatter myself that neither 
my wife nor any of my children, at my funeral, or afterwards, 
will imitate the useless, absurd, extravagant and not seldom 
hypocritical fashion, to dress in black clothes; as the omis- 
sion of this folly can neither do the deceased, or anyone else, 
the least injury, or its adoption produce any possible 
good." But when he died he was buried in the old burying 
ground. 

Persons of distinction in the old times had stone tables 
built over their graves, and several of these are now standing. 
There are three tombs within the enclosure: that of Seth 
Wright, built in 1815; one built by Ansel Wright, in 1848; 
and the chapel tomb of Isaac Bates, erected in 1875 and which 
was at that time one of the handsomest of its kind in New 
England. 

Those who are interested in grotesque and quaint epitaphs 
will find employment for many days in the old part of our 
cemetery. A large number of the inscriptions are remarkable 
only for their rugged religious sentiment, and for the short, 
frank history of the life, cut in uneven lines with mis- 
placed capitals, now fast wearing away from the crumbling 
stone. 

Here are a few curiosities — This on the grave of a child 
one day old: 

"From womb to tomb." 



THE BURYING GROUNDS 97 

This warning over the grave of William Parsons seems to 
have been a favorite, for it appears on quite a number of 
stones: 

"While living men my tomb do view, 
Remember well here Is room for you." 

and this: — 

"Weep not for me 
Dry up your tears, 
I must lie here 
Till Christ appears." 

Another, seen often, is on the stone of Doctor Mather: 

"Dr. Samuel Mather — 1779 

"Corruption, earth and worms, 
Shall but refine this flesh 
Till my triumphant spirit comes. 
To put it on afresh." 

"Hark from the tombs 
A doleful sound, 
Mine ears attend the cry, 
Ye living men come view the ground 
Where you must shortly lie." 

This is decidedly more cheerful: 

"Death is to me a sweet repose 
The bud was open to show the rose 
The cage it burst and let me fly 
To build my happy nest on fiigh." 

Another in a hopeful strain is on the stone over the grave of 

"Mrs. Eunice Mather 1776: 

"Her body here entombed in dust 
Her pious soul is gone we trust 
Among the assembly of the just." 

The long-suffering, heroic mothers deserve a paper by them- 
selves. 



98 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

The grave of Betty Allen, of cherished memory, is marked 
by a plain white stone, which stands not far from the Bates 
mausoleum, and quite near the Seth Pomeroy memorial. 
It bears this inscription: 

"In memory of Joseph Allen 
Who died December 30, 1779, aged 66. 

and 
Elisabeth Parsons his wife 
Who died Jan. 10, 1800, aged 84 
Both exemplary and eminent Christians. 
The memory of the just is blessed. 

This monument is erected by their grandsons 
Solomon and Adoses Allen. 
A.D. 1816." 

In regard to private burying grounds, a writer in the 
March Columbian says, "THE spirit of independence and 
isolation extends, in many American families, even to the 
tomb. Among the shade trees surrounding a house on the 
busy street, in the orchard, and again in the depths of the 
wood, a few rude, unchiseled headstones, perhaps nearly 
hidden by the tangled brush, reveal the spot where sleep the 
forefathers of the plantation." Doubtless many such were 
here in Northampton, but the only one about which there is 
accurate information was the tomb which Samuel Wright 
started to build for himself and his wife, in his dooryard, 
near the present site of the house of Mr. John Draper on 
Bridge Street. 

There are now five cemeteries in the city besides the one 
on Bridge Street. The latter contains the most that is 
interesting to the searcher after antiquities. Of the two in 
Florence, the first, now discontinued, is only about ninety 
years old. The Catholic cemetery was opened some forty- 
five years ago, when many bodies were removed from the 
yard of the old Catholic church, on King Street. 

The small enclosure at West Farms seems to be the rest- 
ing place of a very few families. It has, however, several 



THE BURYING GROUNDS 99 

Stones dated about 1780. I am sure that our member from 
Smith's Ferry could write a most interesting paper on the 
picturesque little burying ground not far from her home. I 
wish I might give you the fascinating account she gave me 
of the people buried there. They had time to see much of 
our history enacted, for almost everyone lived to a ripe age. 
Lucy, widow of Jonathan White, was one hundred years and 
twenty-two days old when she died. Mr. and Mrs. Asahel 
Lyman, the grandparents of Mr. A. L. Williston, who 
lie there, were, respectively, eighty-eight and ninety-two 
years old, and there are several others of about that age. 
It is to be regretted that many of the oldest graves are 
unmarked, and no one now knows anything in regard to 
them. 

Westhampton, set off inijyS, had its first burial in 1791. 
There are graves of forty Revolutionary soldiers in the little 
burying ground. The first minister, Rev. Enoch Hale, a 
brother of the spy, Nathan Hale, is buried there. In her one 
hundred and twenty-six years as a town, Easthampton has 
used four cemeteries, beside the one at Pascommuck, which is 
probably the oldest. Many of the early settlers were buried 
in the part of the town called Nashawannuck, not far from 
West Boylston Mills. The next cemetery was opposite the 
Williston Seminary, on the site of the Town Hall and 
Methodist Church. The third was on Main Street but is 
no longer used. All burials now are made in still an- 
other, in the southern part of the town, near Nasha- 
wannuck Pond. Southampton had its first burial in 1738, 
when the youth, Simeon Wait, died — the records say 
— of "drinking too much cold water." It must have 
been a good omen, as Southampton is still a no-license 
town. 

One writing on the Southampton burying ground says: 
"Those first years of terrible suffering soon added many 
mounds and the population of this silent city grew faster 
than the town above it. But, as in many another place, few 
stones were set up, for the early settlers had all they could 
do to care for the living. Of the second generation it has 



lOO EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

been said that every able bodied man left home and family, 
and shouldered his musket to fight for freedom. Captains, 
and companies of those who lived to return, were laid in the 
same enclosure and after heroic sacrifices were content to 
rest unhonored and unsung; alas! many of them in un- 
marked graves." There are buried Elias Lyman, soldier 
and statesman; Captain Lemuel Pomeroy, who led on to 
Boston a company of volunteers the second day after the 
battle of Lexington; Samuel Weeks, who stood guard over 
Major Andre, the night before his execution; and many 
others. 

On the monument of the first minister, Jonathan Judd, 

is this inscription: 

i 

"He saw his people of so familiar mien to nearly 
one thousand souls; was able, evangelical and faithful 
in preaching; was eminent in piety, wisdom, meek- 
ness, benevolence; lived greatly respected and be- 
loved; and after a ministry of more than sixty years 
rested from his labors July 28, 1803 in the eighty- 
fourth year of his age." 

There are many interesting epitaphs on these old South- 
ampton stones: 

1822 — "Death is my doom, my glass is run. 
My friends I've left to mourn 
But stop, 'tis right, don't shed a tear 
For God commands the whole affair." 

1 8 10 — "All you advanced in years. 
Though healthy and robust, 
You're tot'ring o'er the grave 
And soon must turn to dust." 

And so we might spend hours, between laughter and tears, 
in these places so sacred to the memory of the heroes and 



THE BURYING GROUNDS 



lOI 



heroines, the saints and martyrs, of old Northampton. 
Let us: 

"Go where the ancient pathway guides, 

See where our sires laid down 

Their smiling babes, their cherished brides, 

The patriarchs of the town; 

Hast thou a tear for buried love? 

A sigh for transient power? 

All that a century left above? 

Go, read it in an hour." 

Holmes. 




fir '^,j.-W-«i^ 



OLD NORTHAMPTON TAVERNS 

AND THEIR DISTINGUISHED 

GUESTS 



Old Northampton Taverns and Their 
Distinguished Guests 



The few sturdy and courageous pioneers, who, in 1654, 
first established their homes in Northampton, found them- 
selves on a lonely and unprotected border — a small, poor 
and uneducated group of men; but they built up, slowly and 
steadily, a worthy foundation for a splendid settlement. 

After they were comfortably, though roughly housed, 
they erected, in 1656, their first public building — a meeting 
house, which was used, not only for religious services but 
for town meetings, and afterwards as a school house. Next 
came the need of a village inn, in those days second only in 
importance to the house of worship. Every department of 
public life was then bound up in the meeting house. Usually 
the inn, or ordinary, as it was first called, was next door to 
it, and often such proximity was the sole condition upon 
which permits to sell liquor were granted. The law required 
that an ordinary display a sign, and that it have a tap — or 
barroom. That one room gave much comfort to the hard- 
worked settlers. 

The furnishings of such tap-rooms were simple and pecu- 
liar — in one instance described as including "Two cross 
tables and livery cupboards; and in the brewhouse were 
found two fatts, one under back, one upper back, one knead- 
ing trough, one dresser, and a brake." There was always the 
big fireplace, taking up nearly the entire end of the bar- 
room, where huge logs blazed and sent showers of sparks 
up the big chimney stack. The floor of hard oak was kept 
clean and white by the proverbially neat colonial house- 
wife. 

In this cheery room were scattered about chairs, chests, 
settles and stools, more or less comfortable. Next in im- 
portance to the grand fireplace was the bar; this was usually 
in a corner. Sometimes a sort of wooden portcullis, which 
could be raised or lowered at pleasure, served the purpose. 



I06 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

with shelves laden with pewter basins, pots and mugs, for 
flip, toddy, etc.; often a big wooden bunk with close cover 
would be placed in a warm corner, to be occupied as a bed 
by the stable boy or watchman. 

The popular drinks of the period were punch, cider, 
strong beer, porter, grog, flip, sangaree, toddy, sillabub, 
sack, rum and ale. Flip was, however, the best loved of all. 
One writer says: "From 1690 until the close of the first 
quarter of the last century, there was probably never an 
hour of the day or night that some old Yankee flip drinker 
was not plunging the hot loggerhead, or flip-iron, into a mug 
of creamy flip." The famous drink was made by combining 
bitter beer and rum with a mixture of cream, eggs and sugar, 
into which, at the crucial moment, was thrust the hot iron. 

The old Puritan magistrates thought these ordinaries 
so important, in order to regulate the sale of liquor, as well 
as to provide for the comfort of travellers, that they imposed 
and enforced fines on every town that did not sustain one. 
Great inducements were ofi"ered persons to keep these places. 
Sometimes land was granted them, or pasturage for their 
cattle, or exemption from school rates and taxes. The con- 
duct of them was much hampered by rules and warnings of 
various kinds. All sports and games were strictly forbidden, 
and even the selling of cakes and buns was frowned upon. 
The price of beer was always regulated, and often changed. 
Drunkards were put in the stocks or whipped, and landlords 
were fined if they sold liquor to certain topers, a list of 
whose names was filed with the inn-keeper. A person found 
drunk was fined ten shillings. Strangers also must obey the 
law, or suffer the penalty. When these punishments were 
not effective, a scarlet letter method was tried — a big "D" 
made of red cloth, mounted on white being hung upon the 
outer garment, to be worn at all times. 

It was well that the ordinary should be near the place of 
public worship for there was much physical, as well as mental 
discomfort in church going. As a fire was never kindled in 
the meeting house, the ordinary furnished a cheerful place 
to thaw out before the chilly morning service; then again at 



OLD NORTHAMPTON TAVERNS lO/ 

noon the hot flip and toddy were invaluable in raising the 
spirits which had been depressed, perhaps, by listening to 
dreary discourses on hell. Some, indeed, were made so com- 
fortable as to be incapable of attending afternoon service. 
The wonder is that, under the circumstances, the entire 
congregation did not succumb to the strong drinks furnished 
so freely before the blazing fires. 

There were many loungers about these taverns. A story 
is told of one who spent most of his time in the warmest 
nook by the fireside; a neighbor said to the landlord, in 
excuse— that "the old man was very feeble, and looked as 
if he was breaking up." "Nonsense!" replied the landlord. 
"Anyone who takes such good care of himself, as to warm 
his bootjack before he pulls off his boots, will never die!" 

In speaking of landlords, it may be said that there was 
no more important or picturesque character in early colonial 
times than the innholder. He was prominent in the man- 
agement of the town, thoroughly informed on all public and 
private matters; enjoyed the confidence of all, and often 
held public office. His tavern was the general meeting place 
for the townspeople. Public questions — trade, theology, 
science, crops, politics, and local gossip, were all discussed, 
with plenty of flip and toddy, about his blazing fire. 

The tavern-keeper was usually fat, good tempered and 
obliging. He often led the singing, on Sunday, in the 
meeting house, or ran the ferry boat, if his run were near the 
river; sometimes acted as schoolmaster; served in the town 
council; ruled the local courts, or headed the Train Band, 
on training days; surveyed land, and, next to the minister 
and town clerk, was the most learned man in town. 

During ten years previous to 1701, there was but one 
licensed innholder in Northampton. In that year two were 
authorized, and that number continued, with few interrup- 
tions, for the next ten years. The court records abound in 
cases where persons — women, as well as men — were fined 
for drunkenness. The money thus collected went either to 
the schools or to the town poor. In addition to the innholders, 
retailers of strong drink were frequently appointed. In spite 



I08 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

of this, parties were often convicted of selling contrary to 
law. 

In 1704, an attempt was made to abate the evil of in- 
temperance here, the town voting that one ordinary was 
sufficient. Nathaniel Dwight, accordingly, was the only 
innholder allowed that year. This experience proved so 
satisfactory that the town in August, 1705, abolished or- 
dinaries altogether. For two years no innkeeper was licensed 
but after that the Honorable Court saw fit to appoint, and 
to license, two each year. The Court in doing this must have 
considered its own convenience and comfort, as well as that 
of the public, for strangers who gathered in attendance upon 
these sessions, as well as the judges and other officers, needed 
some place of entertainment, and a trial of one year probably 
satisfied the authorities that taverns were a necessity. 

Judge Lyman once wrote to his son, E. H. R. Lyman: — 
"I am writing in the new Court House — and there is much 
talk about securing more taverns, but one is enough. With 
us it is disgraceful to be seen at a tavern, as a drinker or a 
lounger, and I am delighted that you are coming to manhood 
at a time when the vice of intemperance will soon be banished 
from the land!" This happy state of things was hardly 
realized, however. 

Associated with the mug of flip, the roaring fire and the 
stories and gossip of the tap-room, is the solace of a pipe of 
tobacco; but this comfort was denied the people in the old 
times. Landlords were forbidden to suffer any tobacco to be 
taken into their houses, under a penalty of five shillings for 
every such offence. The private use of tobacco was also 
restricted and regulated. It was not to be used in one's home, 
before strangers, nor could two or more take it together, in 
certain places — certainly not near the meeting house. 

A conspicuous feature of the tavern was the sign, which 
usually hung either upon the tavern itself or in front of it, 
displayed upon a post or a tree. Upon the sign was depicted 
some emblem suggestive of the name the tavern bore; in 
some cases the name alone was painted on a rudely con- 
structed board. Later, taverns were provided with at least 



OLD NORTHAMPTON TAVERNS lOQ 

one private staircase, and a ball-room having a spring floor. 
Behind the house would be a large shed for the protection of 
loaded wagons and for stages; another shed, with benches 
and wide seats, was provided where the teamsters were fed. 
Under this shed, in the side of the house, openings were cut, 
one above the other, large enough to admit the toe of a man's 
boot. Thus the men who must rise at cock-crow could let 
themselves out without disturbing the rest of the household. 

In many towns the stocks, whipping post — even a gal- 
lows, were placed near the tavern. Sales of negro slaves, 
sometimes of paupers, took place; but there are no records 
of any of these things in Northampton. One hanging 
occurred, however, on Hospital Hill, June 5th, 1806, which 
brought a very distinguished guest to town — Bishop 
Cheverus of Boston, who was summoned to console the two 
doomed murderers — Halligan and Daley — and was the first 
Catholic to visit Northampton. While in the village he 
stayed with Joseph Hawley Clarke, as no other family, or 
no tavern, would receive him. He brought about the con- 
version of these wretched men, and preached their funeral 
sermon. This priest was so much liked that in spite of the 
prejudice against Catholics at that time he was strongly 
urged to return to Northampton. Later he became Cardinal 
Bishop of Bordeaux. 

The first ordinary built in Northampton stood on the 
site of Rahar's Inn, and was kept by John Webb— a black- 
smith, hunter and land surveyor. It was probably a very 
small, one-and-a-half story building, with only two rooms 
on the ground floor and a beer house in the rear; as in a new 
settlement like the Northampton of that day, the inn was 
not primarily intended for guests who would pass the night 
under its roof. 

What has been known for many years as the "Old Wright 
House," on Bridge Street, is thought to be the oldest house 
standing in town; and if built, as stated, in 1658, was nearly, 
or quite as old as John Webb's ordinary. It was originally 
kept as an inn by "Cornet" Joseph Parsons, and occupied 
by his descendants for many generations, until bought of 



no EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

the Parsons family by Daniel Wright, grandfather of Miss 
Anna Bliss, the present owner. 

As the little town increased its population, taverns grew 
and multiplied, until it could boast of possessing more than 
an}" other place of its size in this part of New England. 

The present site of St. Mary's Catholic Church was for 
a long period of years occupied by "The Red Tavern." This 
inn was kept by Lieut. Daniel Pomeroy, killed in the battle 
of Lake George, September 8th, 1755. From his grand- 
father, Medad Pomeroy, one of the founders of the town, 
and the original owner of the homestead, it passed by will 
to Aledad's son, Hon. Ebenezer, whose holdings on Main 
Street extended to Center Street. At Ebenezer's death it 
was divided between his sons. The Red Tavern passed 
from Lieut. Daniel to his son, Major Daniel. Alajor Daniel 
Pomeroy became active in raising the quota of troops re- 
quired in Hampshire County for service during the Revolu- 
tion. A company under his command from Northampton 
and vicinity went to Albany and joined General Stark's 
division. After Major Daniel Pomeroy's death, his widow 
conducted the tavern successfully for some years. In 1827, 
in anticipation of the great business boom that Northampton 
expected to enjoy upon the completion of the canal, then 
being constructed between this town and New Haven, 
Capt. Isaac Damon, grandfather of Miss Jennie Smith, 
bought The Red Tavern, had it torn down, and replaced it 
by the first Mansion House — a fine up-to-date hotel. 

The Clarke Tavern, kept for many years by Capt. 
Samuel Clarke, a warm friend of Major Hawley, and for 
whom he named his eldest son, was one of the old hostelries 
of the town, having been built in 1746. This inn was on 
Hawley Street, between Bridge Street and Phillips Place. 
The house* is still standing, and until recently was occupied 
for many years by the Todd and Washburne families. 
Capt. Samuel Clarke was succeeded as innholder by his son, 
Samuel, Jr., the great-grandfather of Christopher Clarke. 
General Porter of Hadley often stopped at the Clarke Tavern. 



'Removed in April, I9I4.' 



OLD NORTHAMPTON TAVERNS III 

For a long time the house was headquarters for the judges and 
lawyers who came to Northampton to attend Court. 

The old Spencer Clark house on Bridge Street, near the 
River, was a very important tavern for many years. It came 
into possession of the Clark family, in 1742. It is not known 
how many years previous to this date it was built. In one 
of the front rooms a mark in the floor, where a counter or 
bar stood, is still to be seen. This old inn was once the scene 
of lively commotion daily, for all the stages stopped there 
on the way from Boston. 

The Pomeroy Tavern, which stood on the site of Draper's 
Hotel, was originally the homestead and inn of General Seth 
Pomeroy. Later his youngest son, Asahel, conducted it as a 
public house. Asahel, in his day one of the most prominent 
men in town, who inherited the family homestead in 1777, 
kept a tavern here until 1807. The old inn was destroyed by 
fire in 1792. Asahel Pomeroy rebuilt on the same spot, and 
continued as landlord for fifteen years in this house, which 
became one of the most prominent on Alain Street, and, next 
to the "Old Church" and Court House, the most famous 
structure. 

When, in 1807 he sold the property to Colonel Charles 
Chapman, he bought the Ephraim Wright estate on Main 
Street, which occupied most of the frontage between King 
and Market Streets. There, in the fine colonial mansion, 
which finally made way for the Alasonic Building and ad- 
joining business block, he kept a private boarding house until 
his death, in 1833. In 1821, Oliver Warner, who had kept a 
tavern half a mile west of Florence, acquired the old Pomeroy 
Inn, and under his management the house became famous 
as "Warner's Coffee House." 

In 1786, the following innholders were licensed in North- 
ampton, besides the Pomeroys and Clarks, already men- 
tioned: Nathaniel Edwards; Elijah Allen; Elias Lyman; 
Joseph Cook and Oliver Lyman. Theodore Lyman kept an 
inn on Pleasant Street, and Zadoe Lyman had a tavern at 
Hockanum. Nathaniel Edwards' tavern was on the turn- 
pike road to Pittsfield, near Roberts Meadow. He took all 



112 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

the turnpike tolls. Landlord Edwards, as he was popularly 
known, built this tavern in 1771. After its destruction by 
fire, February i8th, 1815, he replaced it by a duplicate of 
the original house — which is now standing — and continued 
to "keep tavern" there until the time of his death in 1S32. 
His son-in-law, Leander Moody, succeeded him, after which 
the place was known for some years as "Moody's Tavern." 
In 1862, when the present occupant, Mr. Sylvester, bought 
the property, it ceased to be used as an inn. 

On leaving the town by the "Albany road," so called, 
was found, first, the Abner Hunt Tavern, where the Dickin- 
son Hospital now stands. A little farther on was Paul 
Strong's Tavern, very nearly opposite the site of the present 
Florence Hotel. Next, the Solomon Warner place, situated 
on the road to Williamsburg, was probably the most im- 
portant of the old inns in this direction. Besides that of 
Nathaniel Edwards, the toll-keeper, there was the tavern 
still farther on kept by Capt. Samuel Fairfield. 

Turning south from Northampton Center — there was 
for many years a well appointed inn, called Lyman's Tavern, 
between Mt. Tom Station and Smith's Ferry, on the main 
road to Springfield. Part of the large farm bought for the 
Mt. Tom Reservation belonged to this property. In an 
old Hampshire Gazette may be read the account of a great 
hunt, held near this Lyman Tavern, for a wolf that had 
terrorized the people of South Farms. Landlord Lyman 
asked the party all in to partake of flip and cider brandy. 
Among those present were Dr. David Hunt of Northampton, 
Capt. Walter Stickney of South Hadley and a Mr. Kendall 
of Granby. 

An old tavern used to stand on the corner of South and 
Fort Streets, known as Phelps' Tavern, and sometimes called 
— for what reason is not known — "Ramoth Gilead." After 
the inn was given up the building was made into two dwel- 
lings and has since been occupied by the Strong family. 

In 1792, a mail and stage line was started from Spring- 
field to Brattleboro, and the next year, another to Boston. 
Northampton was the place of meeting for the exchange of 



OLD NORTHAMPTON TAVERNS II3 

passengers, and our taverns were the best upon the road. 
These two stage lines gave considerable impetus to the 
business of the town, particularly to that of the inns. The 
old American House on Pleasant Street, later known as the 
Nonotuck, and still standing on the corner of Pearl Street, 
was the stopping place for what was called the "telegraph 
line" of stages, running from Northampton to Springfield, 
and farther south. This line was owned by Chester W. 
Chapin of Springfield, and David Damon of Northampton. 
There were large stage barns in the rear of the hotel. 

The Curtis Tavern was built by Capt. Isaac Damon on 
land extending between the present Edwards Church and 
Masonic Street. It had large columns in front, and after 
the hotel was discontinued the long building was called 
Colonnade Row, and was occupied by stores. One of these 
was used by the late William F. Arnold; and one by Henry 
Hoyt, the noted Boston publisher, who married Elizabeth, 
daughter of William Butler, the first proprietor of the 
Hampshire Gazette. Over these stores was a large dancing 
hall with a spring floor. Opposite the Curtis Tavern, on 
the site of the Academy of Music and adjoining park, were 
the barns belonging to the old inn, afterwards known as the 
Holly Stables. 

Dancing, in the early years of this Colony, was considered 
one of the deadly sins, and was prohibited by law, in or- 
dinaries and taverns. While it was allowed in some places, 
on certain occasions, such as weddings and "quiltings," no 
dancing teacher was allowed until 1794. In 1759, Joseph 
Hawley complained that "Ebenezer Pomeroy, innkeeper, 
was guilty of misrule and disorder, for suffering sundry 
couples of the two sexes to dance and revel in his house." 
But when Asahel Pomeroy rebuilt his tavern, in 1792, he 
added a hall, and for many years dancing schools were held 
there. The best fiddler — and almost the only one in town — 
was Midah, a negro employed in Caleb Strong's tannery. 

Probably the Warner House attained a greater celebrity 
than any other hostelry in old Northampton. Built, as 
before mentioned, by Asahel Pomeroy, in 1792, it was 



114 



EARLY NORTHAMPTON 



bought by Oliver Warner in 1821, who conducted the house 
for twenty-four years, or until his death. There, many 
public gatherings were held. The judges and lawyers who 
formerly went to Clarke's Tavern, on Hawley Street, assem- 
bled at Warner's when Court was in session; travellers from 
far and near found this inn a congenial home; and there, 
from time to time, the villagers repaired to get the news 
brought in by the stage drivers and by the guests of the inn. 




The most famous visitor ever entertained by Landlord 
Warner was General Lafayette, who came in 1825, a vener- 
ated hero of two great Revolutions. He had given to us so 
generously of his youth and blood as to seem an American 
b}' adoption. The splendor of his later service in the Old 
World heightened his reputation in the New, after an absence 
of forty years. It is interesting to remember that he came 
to Northampton by the tedious stage route from Albany, 
and as he was driven through the Main Street in an open 
carriage, the people were all out to meet him. Several of 
our aged citizens well remember, as school children, scatter- 
ing flowers before the great General as he passed. A recep- 
tion and dinner were given in his honor at the old Warner 



OLD NORTHAMPTON TAVERNS II5 

House, Elijah H. Mills presiding. Later, from the fine 
balcony of the tavern, Lafayette made his long-remem- 
bered speech. He was royallj^ entertained at this old 
inn for several days, and when leaving was escorted as far 
as the Connecticut River by a long procession of towns- 
people. 

Judge Lyman and his accomplished wife, who lived in 
the second house west of the Warner House, were well known 
for their hospitality, and entertained many of Northamp- 
ton's most famous visitors. Landlord Warner was often 
justly exasperated at losing so many of the town's distin- 
guished guests, and was more than once heard to exclaim: — 
"What is the use of trying to keep a tavern when Judge and 
Mrs. Lyman take away all guests of note!" The old Warner 
House, like its predecessor, was also destroyed by fire, 
July i8th, 1870. 

After Capt. Isaac Damon, in 1827, built the old Mansion 
House, where St. Mary's Catholic Church now stands, 
it was very lavishly and richly furnished, according to 
the ideas prevailing at that time. Henry Clay, the great 
statesman, visited Northampton in 1833. He was then 
United States Senator from Kentucky and came here with 
his wife on a tour of the country. He was met in Spring- 
field by a Committee, headed by Hon. Isaac C. Bates, and 
escorted into town by a cavalcade of citizens. He stopped 
at the Mansion House, arriving about three o'clock in the 
afternoon, after which "a sumptuous dinner was provided." 
Mr. Clay attended service Sunday morning at the "Old 
Church," and at the Unitarian Church in the afternoon. The 
next morning Mr. and Mrs. Clay started for Albany, passing 
through "Shepherd's Hollow," (Leeds) where all the opera- 
tives in the woolen mill were drawn up in line to greet them 
— then through Roberts Meadow, past Moody's Tavern, 
and on, by way of Pittsfield to Albany. 

Edward Everett came to Northampton (stopping at the 
Mansion House) in September, 1835, to attend the great 
celebration at South Deerfield, where he was the orator at 
the dedication of the monument, erected to mark the spot 



Il6 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

where the "Bloody Brook Massacre" by the Indians took 
place, in 1675. 

An early landlord of the Mansion House was Captain 
Jonathan Brewster, father of Major Henry M. Brewster of 
Springfield, and of the late Mrs. Hiram Bingham. Captain 
Brewster made it a temperance house. Daniel Webster was 
a guest there on several occasions. A good story is told of his 
persuasive eloquence in obtaining the liquor, which like so 
many others in those days, he was in the habit of taking. 
Calling Captain Brewster aside, he said: "Now this, I 
believe, is a temperance house; you are a temperance land- 
lord and I am a temperance man; but I must have a glass 
of brandy! Do not be afraid of its being known, for if you 
will bring it quickly I will put it at once where no mortal eye 
can see !" Chief Justice Shaw, Judge Samuel Howe and 
many other noted lawyers also came to this hotel, for the 
Mansion House had by this time become headquarters for 
the Court officials. 

In July, 1847, Daniel Webster and Rufus Choate were 
there together when they came to Northampton as counsel 
in the trial of the celebrated Oliver Smith will case. The 
facts of this case were briefly as follows: The heirs — among 
them Austin Smith (a nephew of Oliver Smith and a brother 
of Sophia Smith, founder of Smith College) — wished to break 
the will, claiming that while the law required three competent 
witnesses to such a document, only two of the witnesses of 
the Oliver Smith will were in fit condition to sign it. Oliver 
Smith, another of the heirs, also a nephew of Oliver Smith, 
Sr., and executor of the will, determined, against his own 
interests, to uphold it, and engaged Daniel Webster, with 
Judge Forbes as junior counsel. Charles Delano was also 
retained — the latter two being Northampton lawyers. 
Webster, by his remarkable personality and brilliancy, and 
by his judicious handling of the witnesses, gained the case, 
in spite of the utmost eflPorts of his able antagonist, Mr. 
Choate. 

An allusion is made in the letters of Mrs. Joseph Lyman 
to this visit of Daniel Webster to Northampton. She wrote — 



OLD NORTHAMPTON TAVERNS II J 

"All the elderly gentlemen visiting here at the time of this 
noted trial were invited to a late dinner at the Mansion 
House, given in honor of Daniel Webster." . . . "He 
called at our house later in the evening and listened an hour 
and a half to the playing of Dr. Austin Flint's daughter. 
He said that he had rarely been so entertained by a lady's 
music, and added, gallantly quoting from one of Miss Flint's 
songs — 'I could have loved her had she not been fair.' 

The ell part of the Brewster Tavern — as the old Mansion 
House was at one time called — was moved to Elm Street, 
where the Hillyer Art Gallery now stands, and converted into 
a private residence. About the middle of the last century 
it was occupied for some years by Mrs. Isaac Clark and 
her two nieces, the Misses Martha and Harriet Clary, 
later, Mr. Lafayette Maltby's family made their home there. 

Many others of note, besides those mentioned, visited 
Northampton in early days. The great Hungarian patriot, 
Louis Kossuth — was here in 1852. He was entertained by 
Hon. Erastus Hopkins at his home on King Street, and 
delivered in the Old Church one of those splendid speeches, 
which, by their beauty and eloquence, amazed the English 
speaking world. Many can still recall his large and noble 
form, and his massive head, covered by the celebrated soft 
black felt hat, which was later worn — minus the feather — 
all through the United States, and called "The Kossuth 
hat." One recorder states that a large reception was ten- 
dered Kossuth at the Old Warner House. Jenny Lind, the 
famous Swedish singer, stayed at the Round Hill Hotel 
during her visit to the town in 1852. 

The records are all most exasperatingly silent about the 
abiding places of many of the celebrated men and women 
who have honored Northampton by their presence. Ralph 
Waldo Emerson, Horace Greely, Judge Putnam, and 
Octavius Pickering were entertained at times by Judge 
Lyman, but doubtless they, and others of equal prominence, 
also stopped often at W^arner's, or at the old Mansion House. 

Theodore Parker once took charge of the Unitarian 
parish, in the absence of its pastor, Mr. Edward Hall, when 



ii8 



EARLY NORTHAMPTON 



he stayed at the Mansion House. Dr. Willard, a noted 
minister of Deerfield, used often to be at the Warner House, 
although sometimes a guest at the Lyman home. 

Along our country roads, and even in the city's busy 
streets, some of these weather-beaten old structures, once 
the scene of so much life and activity, still serve to recall 
memories of departed days. But all else is changed. The 
New England tavern as an institution has gone, though its 
importance as a strong factor in the early life of North- 
ampton will always remain. 




GENERAL SETH POMEROY 



QPi vfe.^! 



^^t 



^a^' 



^^Ac 




'Yiflutlj joftD^d con2ej 



General Seth Pomeroy 



The life of Seth Pomeroy, which embraced nearly three- 
quarters of the eighteenth century, spanned a period marked 
by many of the most important events of Colonial times, 
and after the anxieties and turmoil of pre-Revolutionary 
days, closed in the midst of that uprising against British 
oppression, and the struggle of the Colonies for independence, 
in which he bore so conspicuous a part. 

As Northampton reveres Jonathan Edwards as her great 
theologian and intellectual genius; while Major Joseph 
Hawley and Governor Caleb Strong represent the town's 
eminent statesmen; so Seth Pomeroy stands as the most 
famous, as he was also the most picturesque, military 
figure in her history. 

When reviewing his career, one feels that heredity in- 
fluenced it to a remarkable degree, for in him, as a born 
soldier and leader of men, were repeated characteristics 
which had been prominent in a long line of his forebears. 

The pedigree of Eltweed, the pioneer Pomeroy in America, 
has been traced back, through distinguished ancestry, 
to Radulphus (Raoule or Ralph) de la Pommeraie, the 
Norman chief-of-staff of William the Conqueror. The 
traveler in the north of France may find a reminder 
of the family in the name of the early home of this 
Radulphus — St. Sauveur de La Pommeraie, near Falaise, 
and easily reached from Cherbourg. His name, too, is to be 
seen engraved upon a stone tablet over the entrance to the 
old church in Dives, with the names of the other companions 
of William of Normandy, who set sail from that ancient 
port in 1066. 

It is interesting to know that surnames not coming into 
general use until the eleventh century, Radulphus was the 
first to bear the Pomeroy name, and that it was derived from 
the magnificent apple orchards (pomeraie) flourishing to 
this day in that part of Normandy where Roger, of La 



122 



EARLY NORTHAMPTON 



Manche, the father of Radulphus, had his castle. Fragments 
of this medieval chateau are said to be in existence now, at 
Cinglais. 

So important were the services rendered by Sir Ralph 
(Radulphus) at the memorable battle of Hastings that 
fifty-eight baronies in Devon, three in Somerset and two in 
Cornwall, were settled upon him by William, when that 
masterful ruler took possession of England. Of these he 
chose Beri (Berry) in South Devonshire, the estate that 
had belonged to Alaric, the Saxon, upon which to build his 
stronghold — Berry Pomeroy Castle. In its ivy-clad ruins. 




this is still an object of wonderful beauty and impressive- 
ness. One can hardly imagine a more romantic and enchant- 
ing relic of feudal times, around which cluster many legends 
of valor and tragedy, as well as authenticated episodes in 
England's early history. 

The family tree, growing forth and branching out from 
this noble root, bore fruit from many a rare scion engrafted 
thereon; and the fair ladies whose ancestral arms were 
quartered with those of the Pomeroys, and who for centuries 
shared the honors and the hazards of the ancient fortress, 
represented names found on the rolls of English royalty and 
nobility. Among these may be mentioned Rohesia, daughter 
of King Henry I; Alice, daughter of Sir John Raleigh, of the 



GENERAL SETH POMEROY I23 

famous Walter Raleigh family, and daughters of at least 
three peers of the realm. 

It is not surprising that with these antecedents Eltweed, 
the progenitor of the American branch of the family, should 
have possessed unusual qualities for leadership. In 1630, as 
a member of the company which arrived in Massachusetts 
Bay and settled Dorchester, he was chosen chairman of the 
body of governors — or selectmen and, as such, presided over 
the first regular town meeting held in the Colonies. 

The good ship which conveyed these Puritans, including 
Rev. John Warham, Rev. John Maverick, Elder John 
Strong, Lieut. William Clark and Roger Clapp (John Strong 
and William Clark, like the Pomeroys, early settlers of 
Northampton) from the fairest of old England's counties to 
the shores of bleak New England, was the Mary and John, 
under Captain Squebb. It sailed out of Plymouth Harbor 
ten years later than the Mayflower, with its band of devoted 
Pilgrims, had set forth from the same port. 

Eltweed Pomeroy, who was born on July 4th, 1585, at 
Beaminster, County Dorset (which adjoins Devon on the 
North), was then forty-five years old. His second wife, 
Margery Rockett, and their infant son, accompanied him. 
This child — Eldad — grew to manhood, but died unmarried. 

Medad, the second son, who became one of Northamp- 
ton's early settlers, was born in Windsor, Conn., whither 
Eltweed and his family had followed A4r. Warham from 
Dorchester, when the early migration was made to the 
Connecticut Valley. Eltweed spent the last years of his life 
at the home of Medad, in Northampton, who was a young 
man when, in 1659, five years after the plantation was laid 
out, he came to this, then, new settlement. 

He and his son. Major Ebenezer Pomeroy, sustained the 
high reputation of the ancient family name and bore a large 
share in laying worthy and stable foundations for the up- 
building of the town. The military career of Ebenezer, 
though not as important as that of his distinguished son, 
Seth, was notable during King Williams's, and again In 
Queen Anne's war. 



124 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

Seth Pomeroy was born in Northampton, May 20th, 1706, 
the son of Major Ebenezer and Sarah (King) Pomeroy. His 
mother was a daughter of Captain John King, one of the 
most important of the first settlers, who received a grant of 
land from the town upon the street which still bears his name. 
The Pomeroy homestead at the time of Seth's birth was 
located on, or near, the present site of St. Mary's Church, 
and extended to what is Center Street. Medad, at first, had 
owned only the westerly part, but Major Ebenezer added 
very materially to the paternal acres. At his death he 
divided the entire Main Street estate between his three 
sons, Seth receiving the easterly portion. Major Ebenezer, 
probably in recognition of his military services, was also 
granted a large tract of land in Southampton, then a part 
of Northampton. This eventually came into the possession 
of his grandson. Captain Lemuel Pomeroy, a son of Seth. 

The interesting records to be seen in the state archives of 
Massachusetts, and elsewhere, bearing upon the military 
services of General Seth Pomeroy, cannot fail to satisfy 
even the most ardent of his admirers and descendants, who 
claim for him the rank and distinction which these sources 
of evidence supply. But it is with regret one searches in 
vain for details of his early life. In forming our impressions 
of his childhood, and the years immediately following, we 
must depend upon imagination, coupled with such facts of 
the family environment at that time, as have come to our 
knowledge. 

We at least know the locality of his birth, and that the 
"Old Red Tavern," so often mentioned in the annals of the 
town, was undoubtedly the roof-tree under which he first 
saw "the sun come peeping in at morn." This inn, willed 
to Lieut. Daniel Pomeroy — brother of Seth — by their father, 
is alluded to in ancient records as the "old dwelling and 
farm house of Honorable Major Ebenezer Pomeroy." It 
stood until 1827, when replaced by the first Mansion House. 

During the last two hundred years, the activities and the 
training of a boy must have experienced as great changes as 
have occurred in the neighborhood of the Old Red Tavern. 



GENERAL SETH POMEROY 1 25 

At that time the stern principles of Puritanism ruled in the 
home; there was then the ever-present danger of a father 
or a brother — even of the mother or sister— being killed by 
the Indians, in the field or the forest; wars and rumors of 
war were the table-talk of the elders. Almost everything in 
use; clothing, food — all the simple comforts of life — were 
provided by the united efforts of the entire household, 
children included. With our modern ideas, it is difficult to 
understand how, in 1713, and thereabouts, Seth Pomeroy 
and his mates could have had any fun at all. But nature 
always asserts herself. "Boys will be boys" now, and doubt- 
less have been such in all ages; for they can ever be trusted 
to claim the privileges of youth and to create their own 
world of joy and irresponsibility. 

Whatever Seth's childhood meant to him, he was splen- 
didly prepared, either by training or inheritance, or through 
the stern necessities laid upon him, for the strenuous career 
which awaited him. His father, like Medad and Eltweed, 
was a skilled smith, and no doubt Seth, also, early became 
familiar with the ancestral anvil, brought from England by 
Eltweed in 1630. This interesting relic is now in the posses- 
sion of Mrs. Edward Pomeroy of Pittsfield, Mass. It was 
bequeathed by General Seth, in 1777, to his son. Captain 
Lemuel Pomeroy of Southampton; and was carried to 
Pittsfield by Lemuel 2d, when he went there to live, in 1799. 
For many generations the Pomeroys were skilful workers in 
iron, being expert makers of guns and other implements of 
warfare. Medad was promised special grants of land in 
Northampton if he would become a settler, and supply the 
town's need in that respect. The same was true of his son, 
Captain Joseph, when he settled in Suffield, Conn., in 1699. 

One historian says: "Working in iron, fashioning im- 
plements of war, was perhaps inherent with Eltweed Pome- 
roy. In the early days of the Northmen (the race that 
acquired Normandy) the princes, and other nobles of Nor- 
way, were workers in iron. They made their own arms, 
battle-axes, spears, lances, and other implements of war; 
and the Norman warriors of a much later period continued 



126 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

the art, or practice. Many Norman youths of generations 
not long in the past, were apprenticed as armorers in the 
guilds of England. These facts doubtless have some bearing 
on the facility with which the Pomeroys took so readily to 
the making of arms of offense and defence — swords, guns, 
pikes, lances, etc." 

Seth Pomeroy, in turn, acquired a wide reputation in 
the handicraft of his fathers. He carried on a large business, 
employing many skilled workmen, which enabled 
him to furnish the best of guns and other imple- 
ments. These were in great demand by the Colo- 
nists, and by the friendly Indians. General Pome- 
roy's son, Quartus, was also a blacksmith, of whom 
his father says in his will: "I give him my Bickiron 
that his great Grand Father made, one hundred and 
five years ago. He is ye fourth smith in ye Family 
and Quartus is his name." 

Lemuel Pomeroy, 2d, was destined to be the 
last of a long line of Pomeroy gun-makers, and in 
this industry laid the foundation of a large fortune 
in his primitive workshop, on what is now the corner 
of Pomeroy Avenue and East Street, in Pittsfield. 
He eventually obtained large contracts from the 
United States Government but, in 1846, aban- 
doned the manufacture of firearms, as the 
National Armory at Springfield, which had 
previously been operated by civilians, was 
placed in charge of the War Department. 

It was on December 14th, 1732, that Seth 
Pomeroy married Mary, a daughter of Lieut. Jonathan and 
Martha (Williams) Hunt, in the house now standing upon 
the old Hunt homestead on Elm Street. This was, later, long 
known as the Judge Henshaw place, and is now occupied by 
Mrs. Sessions. The house is thought to have been built about 
the year, 1700. John, a brother of Mary, and son of Lieut. 
Jonathan, received the property by his father's will, in 1738. 
On the Hunt side of the family Seth Pomeroy's wife de- 
scended from Governor Webster, of Connecticut ; and 



GENERAL SETH POMEROY 12/ 

through her mother she was a collateral descendant, it 
is claimed, of Roger Williams. 

Thus two distinguished families, marked by strong 
characteristics, were united in the marriage of Seth Pomeroy 
and Mary Hunt. Their home stood on the part of the 
Pomeroy holdings now occupied by the Draper Hotel; 
adjoining it on the east was the old blacksmith and gunshop, 
with the stables and barns beyond — all facing Main Street 
in a long line of buildings which reached to the First Church 
property. It is not known if General Pomeroy built the 
house to which he took his bride. When destroyed by fire, 
in 1792, it was described as an "ancient dwelling" and 
before Seth's day may have been used by a former genera- 
tion of the clan. All the children in this family — five sons 
and three daughters — reached maturity, married and left 
descendants, many of whom have acquired honorable 
prominence in professional, literary or business careers. 

Only Quartus, Asahel and Mary remained permanently 
in Northampton. Quartus served as a private in the Revolu- 
tion and later as a lieutenant of militia. The town also sent 
him to the Legislature. His descendants removed to Berk- 
shire County and to New York State, where they made 
alliances with the Sedgwick, Field, Parker and Whittlesey 
families, and with the noted Coopers of Cooperstown. 
Mr. George Eltweed Pomeroy of Toledo, Ohio, a prominent 
and loyal representative of the present generation, is a great- 
grandson of Quartus. Through him Seth Pomeroy's sword 
was presented to the Northampton Chapter, Sons of the 
American Revolution, of which he is an honorary member. 
This chapter bears the name of his distinguished ancestor. 
The famous sword was found by a grave-digger in the 
Peekskill cemetery, where General Pomeroy is buried. 

Asahel, Seth Pomeroy's youngest child, inherited a large 
share of his father's property, including the homestead, 
because, as the will states — "My son, Asahel Pomeroy, if 
he lives must have ye charge of supporting his Father, 
and now especially, his Mother, who has now lain for a long 
time in a helpless state and condition, therefore, it will be 



128 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

Reasonable yt he should have much more than any of his 
Brothers to enable him to do it faithfully." 

Mary Pomeroy married, in 1771, Levi Shepherd. He 
was born in Hartford, Conn., coming, in 1765, to North- 
ampton, where he became a public-spirited and wealthy 
citizen of the town. He was a descendant of Governor 
William Bradford of Plymouth Colony. Levi and Mary 
(Pomeroy) Shepherd had four sons and two daughters. Only 
the descendants of their son Thomas remain in this vicinity. 

Henry Shepherd (son of Thomas) late in life wrote: 
"Of course I could not have seen General Pomeroy, yet his 
name and character have always been household words, 
and as familiar from my childhood as living members of our 
own family. There was good reason for this, for besides his 
daughter Mary, who was my grandmother, I was acquainted 
with four of his five sons, whose pride and honor in the heri- 
tage of their father were higher than that of nobility 

The Indians were true friends of the Northampton Pomeroy 
family for many years. I remember hearing my grandmother 
say that any Pomeroy would be safe with the Indians, 
though a hundred miles from home, and that frequently 
Indians came from Canada, partly guided by marked trees, 
direct to the Pomeroys in Northampton to buy, or to have 
their guns repaired; also that on the night of my grand- 
mother's birth, there were twenty Indians from the North 
sleeping on the floor of Seth Pomeroy's tavern. 

"An Indian Chief was among them. When informed of 
the birth they expressed their joy by songs and dancing, and 
said that her name should be — 'A big tree, with spreading 
branches.' The Indian prediction of the big tree was 
verified. This daughter of Seth Pomeroy had many of her 
father's characteristics, and was very dear to our family. 
These memories are as fresh in mind now, at fourscore and 
seven, as if it were yesterday that I, a ten year old driver, 
had the pleasure of taking her in the old-fashioned chaise 
to visit her daughter, Mrs. Jonathan Dwight, at Springfield." 

General Pomeroy's oldest son, Reverend Seth, who died 
in early life, graduated at Yale, and married a daughter of 



GENERAL SETH POMEROY 1 29 

Governor Law of Connecticut. In his will his father speaks 
of him as "My First Son, whom I dearly loved but now 
Deceased." In his bequest to Asahel he orders that "my 
son Asahel is to give to Jonathan Law Pomeroy, the only 
Surviving Son of The Reverend Seth Pomeroy, now De- 
ceased, if he should live to ye full age of 21 years, one Horse, 
Saddle and bridle, ye horse to be worth ten pounds Lawfull 
money." 

Dr. Medad Pomeroy, Seth's third son, also a graduate 
of Yale, settled at Warwick, Mass., and later at Northfield. 
He was the ancestor of Mrs. Joseph Lathrop (Abbie Pome- 
roy). The Joseph Lathrop family was prominent in North- 
ampton for many years. After Mrs. Lathrop's death, in 
i86i, they removed to St. Louis, Mo., and still reside there. 
The provision in Seth's will for his son Medad is very char- 
acteristic: "To my Son Doct'r Medad Pomeroy his educa- 
tion I have given him." After bequeathing him certain 
"land in Northfield" he adds — -"I give him all yt shall be 
found charged to him on my Book;" also, "A Latin Dic- 
tionary and Chamber's Dictionary Two VoU. m. I designed 
his Brother Seth should have had them if he had lived, and 
then my grandson, Seth, but he died also; so they must go 
to Doct'r Medad Pomeroy, for it is proper yt a man of 
Learning should have them." 

Captain Lemuel Pomeroy, the fourth son, removed 
early to Southampton, where he became the foremost man 
in the community, and a member of the State Legislature 
for forty years. He served in the Revolution in command of 
the Southampton troops; was at the Battle of Lexington 
and at the surrender of Burgoyne. He is described as "a 
gentleman of the old school, tall, erect and very graceful in 
person." His descendants became numerous in Pittsfield, 
Mass., and among the town's most prominent and respected 
citizens. Captain Lemuel Pomeroy's inheritance from his 
father, besides the "House, Land, etc., in Southampton, 
upon which Captain Lemuel lived," included his "best suit 
of Cloaths," and he adds, "my old Anvil yt was my (great) 
grand Father's." 



I30 



EARLY NORTHAMPTON 



Martha, General Pomeroy's oldest daughter, married 
Rev. Bulkley Olcott of Charlestown, N. H. Sarah (Sallie), 
the youngest daughter, became the wife of a prominent 
lawyer, of West Springfield, — Abraham Burbank, a member 
of the Legislature for sixteen years. Mrs. Katherine M. 
Sizer, of New Haven, Conn., a descendant of Sallie Pomeroy, 
has presented to Betty Allen Chapter, a mantle, hat and 
pair of slippers; also a Colonial mirror which, she stated, 
"belonged to the wedding outfit of this bride of long ago." 
"The Hanging of the Crane" in Seth and Mary Pomeroy's 
new home came at a time when he must have felt great 
solicitude for the safety of the Colonies. He, as well as his 
father. Major Ebenezer, with his elder brothers. Captain 
Daniel and Captain John, lived in daily apprehension of 
Indian raids. Even constant vigilance did not then insure 
security against an attack by the savage foe. 

The only material from which to weave the story of 
Mary (Hunt) Pomeroy's life is found in the letters she wrote 
to General Pomeroy; but these, though few, speak volumes 
when we read between the lines all that is known to have 
confronted her in the eventful period during which she 
shared the honors and helped also to bear the burdens — of 
her distinguished husband, besides bringing up their family 
of eight children. 

The French in their zeal to defend Louisburg, on the 
Island of Cape Breton, which they considered necessary in 
order to "command the New World," had spent years in the 
construction of "the greatest fortress on earth." The lofty 
citadel in the gorge of the King's bastion was considered 
impregnable. For many }'ears previous to the siege of 
Louisburg, Seth Pomeroy had been active in military duties; 
but it was on that occasion he first fixed the attention of his 
superior officers by his unusual ability and courage in the 
face of great responsibility and danger. By 1745, he had 
risen through the rank of Emsign and of Captain, to that of 
Major. 

That one may know a man, next to looking in his face 
and hearing him speak, comes an understanding of his person- 



GENERAL SETH POMEROY I3I 

ality through the written word. Though no portrait of 
Seth Pomeroy exists except such as has been supplied by 
the recollections of his children, there may be found in his 
letters and journals and in his will, not only the recital of 
many historic events, but what is of greater interest, he has 
laid bare in the quaint language of ye olden time, the springs 
of action which directed his life. In these, the noble, sturdy 
and forceful characteristics of unswerving justice, deep 
religious convictions, patriotism and bravery, are seen 
blended with fidelity in friendship and unbounded love and 
tenderness for his family. 

Among these papers the most famous are his journals 
and letters, mostly written in the prime of manhood, during 
the Colonial wars. Nothing wins the heart like a strain of 
gentleness discovered in the soul of a strong, masterful man. 
So it is that the letters of Seth Pomeroy to his wife stand 
almost as classics today. From Louisburg, in 1745, ^^ 
wrote: — 

From the Grand Battery, one mile and a half from the 
City of Louisburg, May the 8th, 1745. My dear wife: — 
Although the many dangers and hazards I have been in since 
I left you, yet I have been through the goodness of God 
preserved though much worried with the great business I 
have upon my hands, I go cheerfully on with it. Tuesday, 
the last day of April the fleet landed on the Island of Cape 
Breton about five miles from Louisburg. The French saw 
our vessels and came out with a company to prevent our 
landing, but as fast as the boats could get on shore the men 
were landed. A warm engagement we had with them; they 
soon retreated; we followed and drove them into the woods; 
but few of them were able to get into the city that day. Four 
we killed, many taken. We lost not a man. We have taken 
many more since, not less than eighty persons. 

The Grand Battre is ours, but before we entered it the 
people had fled out of it and gone over to the town, but had 
stopped up the touchholes of the cannon. General Pepperell 
gave me the charge and oversight of above twenty smiths in 
boring them out. Cannon ball and bombs, hundreds of them 
struck the fort, some in the parade among the people but 
none of them hurt, and as soon as we could get the cannon 
clear we gave them fire for fire, and bombarded them on the 
west side. 



132 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

Louisbourg is an exceedingly strong, handsome and well 
situated place with a fine harbour. It seems impregnable, 
but we have been so successful hitherto I do not doubt that 
Providence will deliver it into our hands. . . . Sunday, 
May I2th. What we have lost of our men I do not certainly 
know, but fear near twenty men. The Army have generally 
been in health. It looks as if our campaign would last long, 
but I am willing to stay till God's time comes to deliver the 
city of Louisbourg into our hands, which I do not doubt will 
in good time be done. 

My dear wife, I expect to be gone from home longer than 
I did when I left it but I desire not to think of returning 
until Louisbourg is taken. I hope God will enable you to 
submit quietly to his will whatever it may be and enable 
you with courage and good conduct, to go through the great 
business that is now upon your hands and not think your 
time ill-spent in teaching and governing your family, accord- 
ing to the word of God. My Company in general are well 
but some few of them are ill, but I hope none dangerous. 
The affairs at home I can order nothing about but must 
wholly leave, hoping they will be well ordered and well taken 
care of. My dear wife, if it be the will of God, I hope to see 
your pleasant face again, but if God in his sovereign Provi- 
dence has ordered it otherwise, I hope to have a glorious 
meeting with you in the Kingdom of Heaven, where there 
are no wars, nor fatiguing marches, no roaring cannon, nor 
screeching Bomb shells, nor long campaigns but an eternity 
to spend in peace and perfect harmony. My duty to my 
Father and Mother. Love to Brothers and Sisters. Love 
unspeakable to my Dear Wife and Loving and Dutiful 
children. This is the prayer of him that is your loving 
husband. Seth Pomeroy. 

In reply Mary Pomeroy wrote: 

Northampton, May 27, 1745 My Honored and Dear 
Husband: The 25th inst., yours reached me rejoicing to 
hear you were alive and in health (Glory to the Great Pre- 
server of Man.) O, thou my longed-for good and tender 
Husband you are in an enemy's land, but God rules their 
hearts, I now write not knowing what will befall you. Alay 
Infinite Power give you to tread upon the high places of the 
enemy, preserve from death, be your shield, strength, sup- 
port, Deliver from harm: Your Guide and Instructor in all 
your dangerous engagements and laborious undertakings. 



GENERAL SETH POMEROY 



Your labors and great concerns are many; and an exposed- 
ness to sudden death awaits you. Aly heart is with you; 
my soul distressed and much pained for you. May God be 
my support, in whose Hands is the breath of life and the 
soul of all living. May God enable me to trust His goodness 
and faithfulness and rely on his every mercy till the evil be 
passed and Divine gales blow a heavenly calm. 

My dear Husband, suffer no anxious thought to rest in 
your mind about me, your tender offspring or business at 
home. We are in a Christian Land, daily experiencing 
Divine favor, neighbors and friends ready on all occasion to 
afford assistance when needed or required. I am in health, 
and also the family at present. No evil at any time hath 
occurred since your departure. Seth, your other little self 
and second name, I have sent down to New Haven about 
one month ago. Our dear and tender parents, brethren 
and sisters are in good health, and kins-folk and all others 
in this town, not one person sick as I know of. Divine 
Providence smiles as though our enemy this summer would 
be restrained and our peace not disturbed. The whole town 
is moved with concern for the expedition, how Providence 
will order the affair, for which religious meetings every week 
in town are maintained. 

My dear Husband, I leave you in the Hands of God, 
desiring to submit to his Will, whatever it may be. Aiy love 
to you in the bonds of peace, and may God grant you to see 
much of Divine Goodness, all of which being the true desire 
of your dutiful and loving wife: Mary Pomeroy. 

P. S. Experience King sends her love to her brother. 

To Major Seth Pomeroy in the Expedition against Cape 
Breton. 

En route from Boston for his pleasant home in North- 
ampton, when returning from Louisburg, Alajor Pomeroy 
wrote again to his wife: — 

July 30th. I was this day informed that you have heard 
that I was very sick, and doubted whether living. V^ery 
sick I have been; the reason why I did not send you word 
was that you could do me no good and do yourself much hurt 
with concern for me, and I hoped you would not hear it. 
My dear, with ink and pen I shall not pretend to give any 
account of what has passed before my eyes in a variety of 
remarkable Providences in favour of our great design that 
we have been upon, and to me especially, for the time 



134 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

would fail to do it, but hope, God willing, to be at North- 
ampton in the happy enjoyment of my dear wife, to love 
and speak forth the praises of God together in a short time. 

The work of Major Pomeroy at Louisburg in boring out 
the touch-holes of the cannon "on ye Grand Battre," which 
had been filled up by the French, made possible the destruc- 
tion of the great fortress. After a siege of thirty days the 
city was taken by the Colonists and the French Commander, 
General Duchambre, surrendered. 

At that time Major Pomeroy wrote in his journal : " Com- 
modore Warren saith that if the King of England had known 
its strength, he would not have sent less than twenty ships 
of the line, and 10,000 regular forces to attack Louisburg," 
whereas the expedition was conveyed from Boston by 
Warren's insignificant and poorly equipped west Indies 
fleet. There is not space here to transcribe many entries 
from the journal of Major Pomeroy, in which he gives a 
graphic account of the siege of Louisburg and of his personal 
experiences, from the day— March 14th, 1745 — when as he 
writes, he "set out from Northampton upon my journey to 
Boston upon the designed expedition against Cape Breton" 
—to the time of his return, August 8th. The closing words 
of the diary — "Arrived home about 5 of the clock. Amen." 
— must have been written with a devout sense of thank- 
fulness. 

The main facts of this campaign are familiar to all stu- 
dents of history, and need not to be recited here, but one 
never tires reading of those minor occurrences noted in Seth 
Pomeroy's journal, which throw so much light upon the 
actual life of an oflficer of the king's forces during the Colonial 
wars. It was not until the 27th of March that the fleet, after 
anchoring the previous night in the "King's Road," sailed 
off with about sixty sail of vessels." At Canso, Capt. 
Joseph Smith's schooner, Sally, upon which Major Pomeroy 
had "shipped" from the Hannah and Alary — the vessel that 
brought him from Boston — was detained several days by 
reports of ice in Louisburg Harbor, so the fleet did not land 
upon Cape Breton until April 30th. As late as June 7th 



GENERAL SETH POMEROY I35 

Major Pomeroy writes — "Today I got myself a tent to 
dwell in, and this was the first night that I have lodged in 
one since we encamped. Our lodging before was turf and 
bough houses, officers and soldiers together, now I lodge in 
one by myself." 

The loyalty of the troops to the king is shown by the 
entry in the journal, June nth (the i8th Anniversary of the 
ascension of George II to the throne of England). "This 
being our King's Ascension day, it was observed by the 
Army here at our camp. . . . Orders were given at all 
our batteries to fire smartly at the city. . . . The Gen- 
eral and a part of the council waited upon the Commodore." 
But at the General's (Pepperell) headquarters the festivities 
were the most enlivening, "the remainder of the Council and 
some other of the officers dined there," . . . "where 
everything was convenient and refreshing" . . . "at 
the General's . . . we had music: — a violin, flute and 
vocal music." 

"IMay, 20th, 1745. This," reads the journal, "is my 
birthday, and I have arrived at the full age of 39 years, and 
have seen, and been the subject of many remarkable de- 
liverances, a record of which I hope never to forget." . 
"May 29th. Since last Friday I have been kept in by a 
Quincycal humor, but . . . this day walked out." 
"Sabbath day. June 2d. Last night received a 
letter from mj^ wife and with great satisfaction. I then and 
this morning read it, and am much rejoiced to hear of the 
welfare of my family; and experienced that good news from 
a far country is like cold water to a thirsty soul." 

July 1 2th, Seth Pomeroy made the last entry in his 
journal on Cape Breton, when he wrote: — "Finished all my 
business in Louisburg . . . dined with the General and 
some other gentlemen. The dinner was very good. Cider 
and wine plenty." When one reads the variety and abund- 
ance provided at this farewell dinner, it is not surprising that 
the departing guest suflFered from seasickness on his return 
voyage to Boston. He thus describes it: — "First, a good 
plum pudding, boiled pork, beef, herbs, two large fat roast 



136 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

pigs, and salmon and boiled butter plenty. After dinner 
took leave of all the gentlemen and went on board Mr. 
Bastard's Amplus Engineer's sloop, Capt. Donnel, Master." 

Turning into Canso Harbor, on the i6th, they "found 
strawberries were ripe and very plenty." July 29th, having 
endured many hardships and dangers upon the expedition, 
including a serious illness while at Louisburg, the journal 
reports: — "toward night it cleared — we set sail and came 
to Boston a little before sunset, well and in good health." 
His soldiers, who had left Louisburg before him, he "had 
the pleasure of seeing" upon his arrival, "before those of 
Hatfield — set out on foot for home." The 31st he "sent 
home for his horse by Capt. Partridge" and set to work 
"a making up" his "muster rolls." 

Late on the day of August 3d, with a joyous heart he 
was able to leave Boston for Northampton, assured that 
"God had both begun and finished the great work — even 
the reduction of Louisburg, and given it into the hands of 
the English." He devoutly adds — "Glory be to the great 
name of Jehovah for it." — and, "My hearty desire and 
prayer is, that as long as I have a being I may give the great 
name of God the praise of it, that he has written Salvation for 
New England." 

The Colonists enjoyed comparative relief from Indian 
warfare for ten years following the capture of Louisburg. 
But in 1755 it was considered necessary to still further guard 
the northern frontier from encroachments of the French, 
and the increasing hostilities of the Indians. Accordingly an 
expedition was organized against Crown Point, commanded 
by Sir William Johnson. Colonel Ephraim Williams was 
at the head of the Third Massachusetts Regiment with Seth 
Pomeroy, Lieutenant-Colonel. The death of Colonel Wil- 
liams early in the campaign resulted in Seth Pomeroy (as 
ranking officer) taking over the command. His defeat of 
Baron Dieskau, the French General is well known. The 
latter was wounded and taken prisoner. 

About a month after this battle, Seth Pomeroy received 
his commission as Colonel. A letter from him to Colonel 



GENERAL SETH POMEROY I37 

Israel Williams (a cousin of Col. Ephraim), dated Lake 
George, September 9th, 1755, is of great interest. A few 
extracts follow: — 

Honored and Dear Sir: Yesterday was a memorable day. 
I being the only Field Officer in Colonel Ephraim Williams' 
regiment supposed to be living, think it my duty to let you 
know what happened on the 8th of this instant, which was 
yesterday. This forenoon until two of the clock, having 
been spent in council, and many letters to be written, I must 
be excused for my shortness and imperfections. 

After speaking of the attack of the Colonial troops under 
Col. Williams, — "Old Hendrick" King of the Six Nations, 
being with him, also Colonel Whiting, and Colonel Cole of 
Rhode Island, — he says: 

To our great surprise it was not long before they retreated. 
Those who came first were bringing wounded men with them, 
and others soon flocked in by hundreds . . till nearly 

twelve of the clock when the enemy came in sight 
the Indians and the Canadians at the last wing, helter skelter, 
the woods being full of them. 

They came within about twenty rods and fired in regular 
platoons, but we soon broke their order by firing our field- 
pieces at them. The Indians and Canadians directly took 
trees within handy gun shot. They fought with undaunted 
courage 'till about five of the clock in the afternoon, when 
we got the ground. ... As soon as they retreated, I 
ran out upon the ground where I stood to fight, and found 
ten dead and three wounded. Among these last was the 
General of the French Army (Dieskau) and his Aide, whom 
I ordered carried to my tent. He came with the sure assur- 
ance to lodge in our tents that night, and to his great sur- 
prise, he did, but, blessed be God, as a wounded captive. 

Colonel Pomeroy then reports the death of Colonel 
Williams — "shot dead in a moment and before he had time 
to fire his gun;" and of Captain Joseph Hawley — "also 
shot mortally before he fired his gun." Of his brother, 
Lieutenant Daniel Pomeroy, he writes: — "My brother— I 
have an account of as being well till the army retreated; he 
asked, 'What! are we going to run.^' 'Yes,' it was said. 



138 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

'Well!' he replied, 'I will give them one more shot before I 
run.' Further of him I do not hear." The dead body of 
Lieutenant Daniel was recovered, and brought in, later in 
the da}'. 

Colonel Pomeroy further writes: 

The French General saith 'if we give them one more 
such dressing. Crown Point and all their country will be 
ours.' . . . General Johnson was shot in the thigh, but 
the bone was not broken. Major General Lyman was not 
injured. Both behaved with steadiness and resolution. 
I pray God would fire the breasts of this people with 
a true zeal and noble, generous spirit, to the help of the Lord 
against the Mighty. And I trust that those who value our 
holy religion and our liberties, will spare nothing, even to 
the tenth of their estates. I desire the prayers of God's 
people for us, that we may not turn our backs upon our 
enemies, but stand and make a glorious defence for ourselves 
and our country. 

There is no doubt, as has been stated, that "Colonel 
Pomeroy's regiment was the most prominent in the engage- 
ment, and suffered most in gaining the victory at Lake 
George." 

Colonel Pomeroy's journal, written on this expedition, is 
very full and interesting, but too long for these pages. In it 
he often alludes to receiving, with joy, letters from his wife. 
He had not been well for some time previous to "Sabbath 
day, October 19th," when he writes: 

I moved to the General for liberty to go home, my sick- 
ness prevailed upon me so fast. I obtained it. At the same 
time Major General Lyman's horse that had got lost, came 
to my house and stood there. I ordered him to be caught 
and taken to the General's. ... I wrote desiring liberty 
to ride him down (to Saratoga). By means of a Dutch bin 
with some straw in it carried into a battoe" — they brought 
me down to Colonel Schuyler's — very sick — I lay very bad 
for about ten days. 

Later the journal records: "very little hopes for my 
life." . . . His illness brought to his side his faithful 
wife and eldest son — Seth, now twenty-two years old. 



GENERAL SETH POMEROY 1 39 

Think what it meant for Seth Pomeroy's wife, at fifty 
years of age, to go over the hills on horseback from North- 
ampton to Albany! For one of her years the ride probably 
occupied a week — perhaps a longer time. How her loving 
heart must have been consumed with anxiety; "her soul 
distressed and much pained" for him! The journal assures 
us that — "after a few days" "he grew better fast and . ." 
On Monday, Nov. 17th — set out for home. 

The following extract from a letter of Seth Pomeroy's 
gives one some idea of his belongings during his service to 
King George II, in I755:— 

I left at my lodgings in Jacob Clement's Indian inter- 
preter (at Albany) a small trunk. I think about four or five 
fine shirts and necks. Some caps, 2 or 3 white handkerchiefs, 
a little bag of gold in the trunk; the number of pieces or of 
pounds I can't tell, for I did not count them. When I came 
away I lost my best clothes (coat, jacket, and britches), my 
best wig, best hat, books and saddle bags. I don't think of 
anything else there. But at Colonel Taylor's, at the Flats, 
I left 2 fine shirts, 2 necks and I think 2 caps. Things lost 
at Clement's are in a closet locked up; the key I brought 
with me; it is now in a little trunk locked in my port mantle. 

Though the Indians were more or less troublesome until 
1763, Colonel Pomeroy took no conspicuous part in the 
Colonial wars after the Crown Point expedition. His expe- 
rience made him especially competent to superintend the 
erection of forts along the northern frontier of the province, 
to which service he was called; and also at times to their 
defence. He was often busy in the laying out and construc- 
tion of roads over the hills, into what was later set off as 
Berkshire County, and on towards Albany. These highways 
he considered a military necessity at that time, and later 
they were a great convenience to the Colonists. 

Besides the enterprises of a military character, to the 
conduct of which Seth Pomeroy was called, his devotion to 
the nearer duties clustering about the home and the com- 
munity, were unstinted. Especially was this true in regard 
to the church. As chairman of the committee appointed to 



140 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

consider the differences between Jonathan Edwards and 
his people, his course, though uncompromising and severe, 
was consistent. His nature, so in contrast to that of the 
celebrated theologian — though full of tenderness and the 
humanities — was incapable of understanding the course 
taken by Mr. Edwards. As the breach widened. Major 
Seth Pomeroy's services were required in warfare of another 
sort, for which he was better trained, and his part in the 
controversy became less conspicuous; while Major Joseph 
Hawley remained to bear the brunt of it. 

Seth Pomeroy's nature was as deeply religious, perhaps, 
as was that of Jonathan Edwards. His service in battle was 
always for the Lord, his conscience being the higher tribunal, 
outranking his superior officers and his sovereign. In the 
Colonial wars he fought, not only to resist the depredations 
of the Indians, but also as a Puritan, to check the influence 
of the Jesuits in Canada. In the war for Independence, his 
zeal inspired him — even in old age, to take part in that 
struggle for liberty and justice which he believed to be the 
holy right of the Colonies. 

When in 1756 he was asked by the Earl of Lincoln, 
"Whether the troops raised by the several colonies would 
act in conjunction with His Majesty's forces, according to 
his Majesty's command," Seth Pomeroy replied: "Yes, 
but only on condition that the terms agreed upon by the 
several governments should not be altered." Less than 
twenty years later, before receiving his commission as a 
Brigadier General in the Continental Army, he was obliged 
to take the oath of abjuration, owing to the commissions he 
had received under the name and authority of the King of 
England. After his long service for the king it must have 
required a severe struggle to renounce the allegiance of so 
many years. 

When at last the repeated and offensive acts of oppres- 
sion on the part of the Home Government could no longer 
be borne and the iires of revolt, so long smouldering in the 
hearts of the Colonists, burst into flame, Seth Pomeroy's 
counsel was sought on the eve of the impending conflict. 



GENERAL SETH POMEROY I4I 

In 1774, he was appointed a member of the Committee of 
Correspondence and Safety, and later became a member of 
the Provincial Congress. It was most remarkable that a 
veteran of his years should have been equal to the strain of 
another war, and able to enter the new service with all the 
ardor of youth, employing against the British cause, as he 
did, the same skilful resources that, formerly, had marked 
his devotion to it. 

He seemed almost oblivious, however, to the honors that 
soon followed. For though appointed Senior Major-General 
of the Massachusetts Army, by the Provincial Congress, 
October 27th, 1774, — proof of which is to be found in the 
"Records of the Provincial Congresses, Vol. i, page 24," — 
he esteemed the distinction so lightly that he rarely, if ever, 
appropriated the title of his rank. Later, when appointed 
by the Continental Congress, first Brigadier-General of the 
Continental Army he was still known as Colonel Seth 
Pomeroy — in his old home, at least. Even his memorial 
stone in the Northampton burying-ground reads: "Col. 
Seth Pomeroy." (This does not mark his grave, which is 
at Peekskill, N. Y.) 

Under his commission as Major-General, he was busily 
engaged in the early spring of 1775, organizing the Massa- 
chusetts troops, which later were gathered about Boston. 
When news of the Lexington fight reached Northampton, he 
chanced to be at home, and in fervent words of patriotism 
exhorted the minutemen gathered in front of the church, 
under command of Capt. Jonathan Allen (son of our 
Betty Allen), before their long three-days' march to Boston 
began. 

On April 23d, 1775, the Provincial Congress ordered that 
"an army to serve throughout the year and numbering 
13,600 men be organized at once. In May, Artemus Ward 
was commissioned Commander-in-chief of the Massachusetts 
Army, in place of Jedediah Preble, retired; John Thomas, 
Lieutenant-General; Seth Pomeroy retaining his rank as 
Senior Major General." General Pomeroy was exceedingly 
active for several months assembling and superintend- 



142 



EARLY NORTHAMPTON 



ing the training of the raw recruits, before whom lay 
the hard, bitter service of the early days of the Revolu- 
tion. 

He was now sixty-nine years old, but carrying burdens 
that might well have taxed the endurance of a much younger 
man. He journeyed from Boston to his home for a "brief 
rest" — as a chronicler of the time has stated. Perhaps the 
thrifty veteran also had in mind the interests of his many 
farms, or of his blacksmith's shop adjoining his home in 
Northampton. However this may have been, his respite 
was short. After a day only in the little village, a messenger 
from General Putnam rushed into town on his travel-worn 
steed, summoning General Pomeroy to return in all haste 
to Boston, "For we have determined," said Putnam in his 
letter, "to draw our forces nearer the city, and to take 
possession of the heights of Charlestown." 

Pomeroy, with his knowledge of the military situation, 
understood the consequences likely to follow, and lost no 
time in making ready for that memorable ride to Bunker 
Hill, without a suspicion that it would go down in history as 
one of the romantic and spectacular episodes of the war. 
The old General, mounting one of his horses, taken from the 
field, started toward evening on the i6th of June, riding all 
night over the rough stretches of the Bay Road that lay 
between Northampton and Charlestown, arriving there in 
the midst of the battle at noon next day. Twice he changed 
horses on the way — the last relay being secured from General 
Ward at Framingham. 

This he would not ride into the zone of danger, but, 
leaving it in a safe place hurried on foot along by the Mystic 
River, fire from the enemy's vessels in the harbor raking the 
narrow isthmus where he walked. A shout went up as he 
appeared with his home-made musket, — "You here, 
Pomeroy.'"' said Putnam. "God! I believe a cannon would 
wake you if you slept in your grave." He refused the com- 
mand when General Putnam urged it upon him, and placing 
himself with the Connecticut troops he at once, it is said, 
pointed out the British General — Pitcairn, to the men who 



GENERAL SETH POMEROY I43 

Stood near him. The next instant Pitcairn, who was detested 
by the Colonists, fell from his horse, fatally wounded. 

Toward the close of the engagement General Pomeroy's 
gun was struck by a British bullet, which disabled the lock; 
but it is related that he "mounted the ramparts and when he 
saw the soldiers retreating (their ammunition having given 
out) he shouted, "Don't run boys! don't run! club them 
with your muskets as I do. No enemy shall ever say he saw 
the back of Seth Pomeroy;" and that when at the last, 
retreat was unavoidable, he left the field facing the foe. He, 
so far as known, was the only Northampton man who par- 
ticipated in the battle of Bunker Hill. That with the rank 
of Major-General, he fought there as a private soldier shows 
the unusual caliber of the man. Not since his early service 
in the Colonial wars, at least thirty-two years before, had he 
served in the ranks. 

Five days later, June 22d, 1775, ^^e Continental Congress 
at Philadelphia appointed "Seth Pomeroy 1st Brigadier 
General in the Continental Army." "On the first memorial 
tablet in the Chapel of the Military Academy at West Point, 
the military school of the United States, the highest authority 
of the nation concerning the honor of rank, may be found, at 
the head of Brigadier-Generals, an inscription to the memory 
of Brigadier-General Seth Pomeroy, Born 1706, died 1777." 
Later, feeling very seriously that his age might unfit him for 
active military life in the field, he voluntarily resigned the 
office "that a younger man might take up the burden." 

Though early biographers have sometimes questioned 
the claim that General Pomeroy, when a member of the 
Provincial Congress, laid the plans for the seizure of Fort 
Ticonderoga and Crown Point, later authorities give him 
full credit for this great service, which resulted in the reduc- 
tion of the Fort by Ethan Allen and his "Green Mountain 
Boys," and in the capture of much-needed armaments. 

It should be stated that "the commission of Seth Pomeroy 
as Major General of the Massachusetts Army was independ- 
ent of that of the Resolve of the Continental Congress of 
June 22d, 1775, appointing him the first Brigadier General of 



144 



EARLY NORTHAMPTON 



the Continental Army." Subsequent events proved that 
he was not long to remain unmolested in the occupations of 
peace. The Provincial Congress at Watertown ordered that 
under his former commission as Major-General he continue 
his duties in the organization, drilling and disciplining of the 
state troops. His services in supplying reinforcements to 
the army, which were so sorely needed, were repeatedly 
acknowledged both by the Provincial and the Continental 
Congresses. 

His vigorous health returning in great measure, and being 
personally solicited by General Washington to do so, early 
in the year 1777, he took the field at the head of Massa- 
chusetts troops, and joined General McDougal on the Hudson 
River. But his Revolutionary service, and his eventful 
life, were alike now drawing to a close. Even his unusual 
strength and iron will, urged on by a desire — born in the 
Pomeroy race — to finish the thing begun were not sufficient 
to cope with his advanced age and the rigors of that ill-fated 
winter. He contracted pleurisy, and after a short illness in 
the little Episcopal church (St. Peter's), still adjoining the 
Peekskill burying ground, and which at that time was used 
as a military hospital, he passed on to "join the great 
majority" whose battalions are encamped on the further 
shores of Time. 

Though dying full of years, after a life crowded with 
deeds of public service and private beneficence, yet his 
departure seemed most untimely; for it came at a period 
so critical in the course of the Revolution, that Washington 
then stood in great need of leaders like this righteous patriot, 
who with his wide experience in military affairs combined 
sound judgment, intrepid courage and a holy zeal — all 
devoted to the cause of independence for the Colonies. 

Had he lived but a year or two longer and retained the 
vigor with which he was blessed when leaving home upon 
his last campaign, it is reasonable to believe he would soon 
have outstripped in noble achievement and rank those 
officers, who though high in command, lived to embarrass, 
and even to disgrace, the Continental Army. 



GENERAL SETH POMEROY 



HS 



Seth Pomeroy was nearly seventy-one years of age when 
the end came, February 19th, 1777. In his last hours he 
was attended by faithful and mourning comrades, but was 
far removed from his "pleasant home in the middle of 
Northampton;" from wife, children and kinsfolk, all of 
whom, as he said in his will of his son Seth, he had "dearly 
loved." There rests "the good warrior" in his last bivouac, 
on those commanding heights rising above the Hudson 
River that overlook West Point and Fort Putnam. In 1898, 
his descendants, and the Sons of the Revolution of New York, 




erected a noble monument to his memory, near the sacred 
ground where he sleeps. 

His wife did not long survive him. A few months after 
her husband's death there came for them that "glorious 
meeting" of which he had spoken to her in one of his letters, 
long before, "where there are no wars, nor fatiguing marches, 
no roaring cannons, nor screeching bomb shells, nor long 
campaigns; but an Eternity to spend in peace and perfect 
harmony." 

The following lines, quoted from a letter of General 
Pomeroy's written only a week before his death, but when 



146 



EARLY NORTHAMPTON 



he was looking forward to further service in the war, and 
which are inscribed upon his monument at Peekskill, are as 
characteristic as they are beautiful: 

"I go on cheerfully, for I am sure the cause we are 
engaged in is just, and the call I have to it is clear, and the 
call of God. With that assurance, who could not go cheer- 
fully and confront every danger?" 




EARLY NORTHAMPTON BRIDES 



Early Northampton Brides 



For obvious reasons in the early days of our colonial 
history, the state of single blessedness (in persons of marriage- 
able age) was not often encountered — certainly never en- 
couraged. In New England, especially, "No more embar- 
rassing and hampering condition, no greater temporal ill 
could befall any adult Puritan, than to be unmarried." 
"What could a man do, how could he live in the new land 
without a wife.^ There were no housekeepers and he would 
scarcely have been allowed to have one if there were. What 
could a woman do in that new settlement among unbroken 
forests, uncultivated lands, without a husband.?" 

"Bachelors were rare indeed and were regarded with 
intense disfavor by the entire community." In many 
localities they were obliged to pay a line of one kind or an- 
other for the selfish luxury of a single life. Maids were not 
taxed, but were objects of scorn and derision, and after 
thirty years of age bore the odious name of " thornbacks." 
Consequently "the colonists married early and they married 
often." 

Chief Justice Marshall fell in love with his wife when 
she was fourteen and married her at sixteen. Rev. Jonathan 
Edwards wrote his famous rhapsody of Sarah Pierpont 
when she was but thirteen years of age and she became his 
bride at seventeen. Our own Betty Allen was wedded during 
her seventeenth summer and Hannah Hull of pine-tree 
shilling fame, though buxom in weight was young in years. 
Likewise "widowers and widows hastened to join their 
fortunes and their sorrows. Mrs. White and Governor 
Winslow had been widow and widower seven and twelve 
weeks respectively when they joined their families and them- 
selves in mutual benefit, if not in mutual love." 

Thus, weddings, being merely civil contracts, were of 
common occurrence and too matter-of-fact affairs to cause 
further public notice than the publishing of the banns; and 



150 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

the blushing bride was the object of comment and admira- 
tion for a very brief space of time — to-day, a child at play, 
tomorrow, a housewife and matron. In regard to these 
brides of other days and their subsequent lives of industry 
and influence, we are able to glean but few facts — the meagre 
history of those times records only manly deeds and defects. 

One of Northampton's early matrons has succeeded in 
claiming for herself several paragraphs of history's record, 
and it all came about through a gathering of friends over the 
teacups to honor the visit of a matron from a neighboring 
town. Thus may destiny be read even in the tell-tale tea- 
grounds! 

The maiden name of this young woman was Mary Bliss, 
daughter of Thomas Bliss of Windsor. Joseph Parsons, one 
of the early settlers of Springfield, married Mary Bliss in 
1646 and took her to his Springfield home. In 1655, they, 
with their little family, moved to Northampton and united 
with the settlement here. A short time after this. Goody 
Branch of Springfield came to visit Goody Sarah Bridgman 
of Northampton, at whose home was the gathering of friends 
to do her honor. The then all-absorbing topic of witch-craft 
was introduced and soon drifted to personalities, when the 
insinuation was first made against Mrs. Joseph Parsons of 
being a witch. The stimulating influence of the tea set 
tongues a-wagging, and the little community, accustomed 
to repression and severity, was soon in a state of intense 
excitement over a real witch in their midst. 

As a basis of fact, Mrs. Parsons was a proud and nervous 
woman, haughty in demeanor, and, belonging to the aris- 
tocracy of the time, held herself a dame of considerable 
importance. Besides this, it is recorded that she was some- 
thing of a somnambulist and, in the frenzy of these attacks, 
would often wander off in the night until she fell from sheer 
exhaustion, and when she came to her senses, was unable 
to remember anything that had occurred. To prevent these 
nocturnal wanderings her husband locked the door and hid 
the key, which in some apparently occult manner she in- 
variably found. It is stated that, later, she was locked in the 



EARLY NORTHAMPTON BRIDES I5I 

cellar which proved an effectual prison. If compelled to 
sleep in the cellar of a New England house of the seventeenth 
century, it is no wonder she saw spirits and had fits! 

Inflamed imaginations and jealous natures soon sent 
strange stories afloat, and the greatest excitement prevailed. 
Crimination and recrimination followed between Sarah 
Bridgman and Mary Parsons, in which many other people 
were involved, until Joseph Parsons, a man of standing and 
importance in the town, invoked the aid of the law to save 
the character of his wife. This resulted in the trial and con- 
viction of Sarah Bridgman before the Magistrates' Court at 
Cambridge. She was ordered by the court to make public 
retraction of her statements in regard to Mrs. Parsons before 
the inhabitants of the town, or, in default of this, to 
pay her ten pounds sterling. Which penalty, if paid, is not 
recorded. I am told that since that day, dwellers in this 
goodly town have been most careful to avoid neighborhood 
quarrels. 

The first Northampton wedding occurred November 15th, 
1655, in what is now the Higbee house on West Street, — 
although it occupied another site at the time of the marriage 
— the bridle couple were Mary Holton and David Burt. 
I find no further information concerning them. 

A most remarkable woman, who came here in September, 
1659, as the bride of Rev. Eleazar Mather, the first minister 
of the town, was Esther, or Hester, Warham. She was the 
mother of Eunice Williams of Deerfield fame and the wife 
of the first minister for ten years. Eight months after his 
death she married his successor. Rev. Solomon Stoddard, 
and became the ancestor of an illustrious line of descendants. 
For seventy-seven years, or more than two generations, she 
was the only minister's wife known in this frontier town, and 
she was directly connected with the First church through her 
two husbands and other pastors, her direct descendants, for 
more than one hundred and sixty years. 

Mary Stoddard, the oldest daughter of Esther and Solo- 
mon Stoddard, she of the laconic answer, was married in 
1695. 



152 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

Her sister Esther married Rev. Timothy Edwards in 
1694 and became the mother of the profound Jonathan, and 
of ten daughters, all more or less illustrious in after life. She 
did not unite with the church until her son, Jonathan, was 
twelve years old. She assisted her husband in the education 
of their children, all of whom were prepared for college. She 
attained her ninety-ninth year and showed her full mental 
vigor to the last. 

Rebecca Stoddard married, in 1722, Lieut. Joseph 
Hawley and became the mother of Major Joseph Hawley, 
"one of the ablest advocates of civil freedom and whose in- 
fluence in hastening the revolution was second to no other 
person." This Rebecca Stoddard was a woman of great 
energy and decision of character, of remarkable industry 
and economy, and with business talents of a high order. 
She was a person of great eccentricity, of strong prejudices 
and aristocratic tendencies. After her husband ended his 
life by cutting his throat, in a lit of melancholy, the care of 
their two sons fell upon her, as well as the management of 
the farm and merchandise, and she proved herself fully equal 
to it. She was an expert dairy woman; her butter and cheese 
were famous, and she made more of the latter than anyone 
else in town. One gathers that she was more notable than 
lovable, and her son could have inherited from her only the 
sterner and stronger elements in his character. When, at 
the age of thirty, he finally brought home his bride, in spite 
of his mother's opposition, though remaining under the 
same roof, she retired to her own apartments and man- 
aged her own household, building an addition for a cheese- 
room when she was sixty-seven. She died in 1766 and her 
tombstone bears this quaint inscription, "Earth's highest 
station ends in, 'Here he lies,' And 'Dust to dust' concludes 
her noblest song." 

Sarah Pierpont, of New Haven, Conn., who was descended 
through her mother from the Rev. Thomas Hooker, called 
the Father of Connecticut churches, was married in 1727, 
at the age of seventeen, to Rev. Jonathan Edwards. She is 
spoken of, not only as a most beautiful woman, but also as 



EARLY NORTHAMPTON BRIDES 1 53 

possessing exquisite charm combined with great strength of 
character and a wonderfully natural religious enthusi- 
asm. 

"It is related that when Rev. Job Strong was ordained at 
Portsmouth, N. H., Rev. Jonathan Edwards was expected 
to preach the ordination sermon, but as he was late in arriv- 
ing a Rev. Mr. Moody began the services with prayer, in 
which he alluded to the superior talents, gifts and graces of 
Mr. Edwards, who, in the meantime had quietly entered the 
church and made his way into the pulpit. On seeing him 
there at the end of his prayer, Mr. Moody said: "I did not 
intend to flatter you to your face; but let me tell you, 
Mr. Edwards, people say that your wife is going to heaven 
by a shorter road than you are." She was the mother of 
eleven children, a wonderful manager of her household, and 
respected and beloved by all who knew her. Though noted 
for her deeply religious nature, "there was nothing morbid 
or sad about her religion; she had no depressing experiences; 
her piety, like her character, was a joyous one, bringing with 
it light and gladness. She made the home at Northampton 
a centre of genial and attractive hospitality." The famous 
Whitfield, after spending several days with the Edwards 
family in Northampton, records that she caused him to 
renew those prayers which for some months he had put up 
to God that He would send him a daughter of Abraham to 
be his wife. To this record he adds this petition: "Lord, I 
desire to have no choice of my own. Thou knowest my 
circumstances." 

A man who would indite such a prayer would never have 
won Sarah Pierpont for his wife! Even the earnest and 
austere Jonathan Edwards, when writing to her entreating 
a speedy marriage, says: "Patience is commonly esteemed 
a virtue, but in this case I may almost regard it as a vice," — 
and the marriage took place soon after. 

Elizabeth Parsons married Joseph Allen November 22d, 
1733- The praises of our revered Revolutionary mother 
have been sung so many times that it is quite unnecessary to 
tell this audience more of her and her six soldier sons. She 



154 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

was indeed a true mother in Israel, having assisted at the 
birth of full three thousand children. 

Mary Hunt, daughter of Lieut. Jonathan Hunt, who was 
born on the site of the present Burnham House, was married 
December 14th, 1732, in the house now owned by Mrs. Ses- 
sions on Elm Street, to General Seth Pomeroy, honored patron 
saint of the Northampton Chapter of the Sons of the Ameri- 
can Revolution. Very little is recorded of her life and the 
few ideas we have concerning her are largely matters of 
inference. We feel sure she must have been a good provider 
for her household and an excellent seamtress, because of the 
numbers of fine "shirts and necks" which her husband men- 
tions in his journal as being carelessly left behind him in 
one place and another. 

During his enforced absences from home on military 
errands or affairs of state, great responsibilities, both busi- 
ness and domestic, must have been thrust upon her. We 
are told that she possessed great fortitude but that her 
anxieties and cares were tremendous. 

One letter of hers, written in reply to one sent her by her 
husband during the siege of Louisburg, is preserved. In it 
she assures him of the earnest prayers of the Northampton 
people in his behalf, and commends him with unfaltering 
faith and trust to God's care and overruling power. 

Her husband speaks of her most touchingly in his last 
will and of "her enfeebled condition," brought on no doubt 
by the heavy burdens which she had so cheerfully borne. 
He allows her the improvement of one-half of his estate 
whenever her health will permit her to care for it, but in case 
she is unable to do so, he commits her to the care of his son 
Asahel, and counsels faithful attention to this duty. 

Mary Edwards, daughter of Sarah Pierpont and Rev. 
Jonathan Edwards, was married November, 8th, 1750, at 
the age of sixteen, to Major Timothy Dwight. 

She was as much below medium size as her husband 
was above it. They were the parents of thirteen children, 
eight of them sons, and all large and strong men — the oldest, 
Timothy Dwight, president of Yale College, being only seven- 




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EARLY NORTHAMPTON BRIDES 1 55 

teen years his mother's junior, while the smallest of them, 
Cecil, was five feet eight and one-half Inches high, and 
weighed two hundred pounds. She herself was so small 
that her husband would sometimes carry her around the 
room on his open palm held out at arm's length. 

Her children were widely noted for their fine physical 
forms and features. She was a very strong-minded woman 
and had quite superior instincts and habits of analytic 
thought. Her most striking mental traits were her quick 
habits of observation and her thorough and keen analysis 
of men and things. That she was an independent thinker 
for her day is shown by the fact that she did not unite 
with the church until her oldest son was nearly twenty 
years old. 

For this son she had the most observable respect and 
when, after the death of her husband in 1778, he, with his 
young wife and family, removed to Northampton in order to 
better aid his bereaved mother, she always addressed and 
answered him with the respectful title of "Sir." But man- 
ners were more courtly then, than now-a-days, and the 
Edwards family was noted for polished and fine address. It 
had been a rule in the household that when the father or 
mother entered a room, any of the children who might be 
present should at once arise, and beside offering them a 
seat, should continue standing until they were first seated. 
Madam Dwight's children always spoke of her with rever- 
ence and tender affection, and as President Dwight returned 
from her grave, he remarked: "All that I am and all that 
I shall be, I owe to my mother." 

Mercy Lyman, daughter of Joseph Lyman, and direct 
descendant of Richard, was married in 1752 to Alajor 
Joseph Hawley. His mother was much opposed to the 
match and tried to break it off but love prevailed over 
parental authority. It was said of her that she presented a 
fine appearance and was a beauty at seventy. They had 
no children but Mrs. Hawley's care and devotion to her 
husband in his later life, through all those melancholy months 
of darkness and despair, have been recorded with admiration. 



156 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

In his will he makes his bequest to his wife with this tribute: 
"To my beloved wife, Mary, with a most affectionate 
remembrance of her industry, tenderness, goodness and 
fidelity to me ever since our intermarriage, and especially 
at those seasons when my state and care have been most 
particularly and extraordinarily exercising and trouble- 
some." 

On November 20th, 1777, Sarah Hooker was married to 
Caleb Strong, afterwards Governor of Massachusetts during 
two different periods. She was the daughter of Rev. John 
Hooker and that Sarah Worthington, who at the time of her 
marriage, in 1755, came to Northampton on a pillion, behind 
one of her husband's deacons, according to the custom of 
the times. 

It is said of Governor Strong's wife, "with whom he lived 
in wedlock for forty years, that she was a lady of pleasing 
aspects, strong good sense, fervent piety and remarkable 
sweetness of disposition. Their home was full of sunshine 
and of the peace and presence of God." 

Does it seem out of place for me to add, what pride she 
must have had in those days of strong party feeling in 1 800 
when "federal" and "democrat" were words of very positive 
meaning, that her husband was so much revered where he 
was best known, that not a single vote was cast against him 
in seven or eight towns of which Northampton was the 
centre. 

But this is dangerously near modern politics, in which 
women have no part. Time does not suffice to tell you of 
Abagail Ford and Experience King, Eunice Mather and 
Phoebe Lyman; of Esther Edwards and Rhoda Dwight; 
of Jean Lyman, Esther Strong, and Alary Woolsey, and a 
score of others. Such are some of the brides who have graced 
and honored Northampton in the days that are gone. With 
what memories have they hallowed this place for us! What 
a heritage of character and influence have they left us! What 
a standard of womanhood have they set for us! To what 
high deeds and higher ideals have they directed us! And 
still the generations move onward, each leaving behind its 



EARLY NORTHAMPTON BRIDES 



157 



influence on the future. As in the past, so in the days to 
come, 

"Will pass onward the bridal processions, 

Fresh with the youth of the world, recalling Rebecca and 

Isaac; 
Old and yet ever new, and simple and beautiful always, 
Love immortal and young in the endless succession of lovers." 




MAJOR JOSEPH HAWLEY 



Major Joseph Hawley 



The wayfarer in Northampton, passing from Bridge to 
Hawley Street at midda}% may suddenly find himself in a 
full tide of mill operatives surging dinnerwards from the brick 
factories beyond. Grave and gay, merry and sad are the 
faces; diverse are the languages in which lively repartee is 
bandied back and forth, silently with lagging footsteps, 
the middle aged and old bring up the rear. 

If, perchance, it is on a Sunday morning he passes this 
way, he will find it thronged with far greater crowds pressing 
toward the beautiful new church, already too small for our 
Polish citizens, and will feel as he gazes into the Slavic faces 
under every conceivable head adornment, from the simple 
kerchief of the motherland to the gayest and most extreme 
of the season's styles in hats, that he is indeed looking into 
the bubbling depth of "the melting pot," from which is to 
emerge, we trust, the ideal future citizen of Northampton. 

It is a far cry back to the early days of the eighteenth 
century when on this highway, known in the little hamlet 
as Pudding Lane, was born, October 8th, 1723, Joseph 
Hawley, who was to develop into one of the greatest of our 
"River Gods" — a man whose sterling character and public- 
spirited devotion we would rejoice to find again in this 
future citizen. 

There were but three generations of the Hawley family in 
Northampton, and as our hero, Major Joseph, illustrates 
rather remarkably the doctrine of heredity, I wish to mention 
briefly the first two. 

When Joseph Hawley, son of Thomas, of Roxbury, where 
he was born in 1655, graduated from Harvard College in 
1674, he intended to enter the ministry and, following the 
usual preliminary step in that day, became first a school- 
master. He was employed to teach school in Northampton 
and came here in the fall of that year. He was given a small 
plot of land near Meeting House Hill, and in 1682 a home lot 



l62 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

was granted him on the easterly side of Round Hill, but he 
never lived on either of them. In fact, the town by special 
vote released him from building on the first, and in 1682 
(having married Lydia Marshall in 1677), he bought a " parcel 
of land with a dwelling on it" on the west side of Pudding 
Lane, covering in part the present location of Belding's Silk 
Mill; and this is the original Hawley homestead. 

This was within the fortifications, or palisades, which 
were built in 1675, ^^^ year after Joseph Hawley came here, 
and you may be interested to know the probable line of these 
old palisades. They began on Bridge Street just above the 
cemetery, the northeastern line of which was then nearly 
where it is now, following the easterly boundary of the home 
lots laid out on Hawley Street. There was a highway then 
very near where Pomeroy Terrace now is, and the palisades 
were built along that, and reached Mill River at a point 
just below the house of the late William R. Clapp; then 
turning up Mill River they continued along the bank to the 
rear of, and across, Forbes Library lot, and crossing West 
Street, enclosed the house of Alexander Edwards, a little 
south of Plymouth Inn; then took a nearly straight course, 
crossing Elm, State and Park Streets, reaching King, possibly 
as far up as the French Catholic Church, and so went on, 
above the cemetery, to Bridge Street. 

The school house in which Joseph Hawley taught was the 
first building erected for a church, a little one-story structure, 
eighteen by twenty-six feet, with one door, one chimney, 
two windows and a steep thatched roof, facing south, on the 
corner of King and Main Streets. The site was marked, in 
1912, by a small boulder, with a bronze tablet upon it, the 
gift of Betty Allen Chapter. 

He proved to be a most successful school teacher, and 
taught ten or eleven years. He was licensed to preach about 
the time he came to town and supplied the pulpits in various 
churches throughout the county, in a very acceptable man- 
ner, but he soon renounced the ministry — very likely because 
he was more and more busied with municipal affairs and had 
no time for his theological studies. With school teaching he 



MAJOR JOSEPH HAWLEY 163 

combined farming, mercantile business and the practice of 
law. He never studied law; still, during the latter part of 
his life he was the principal lawyer in Northampton and was 
appointed by the town to conduct nearly every suit in which 
it was a party. 

The town entrusted many other important affairs to 
him. In 1695, "When as it is thought necessary that there 
be a sufficient cage erected or set up in Northampton for the 
speedy security of some turbulent persons, therefore, it is 
ordered by the court, that Joseph Hawley, Esq., cause the 
same to be speedily erected and sufficiently made and set up." 
He was on the "gutter committee," for great damage 
occurred in the meadows from the overflow of Mill River, 
which at this time did not pass through its present channel. 
At the foot of Pleasant Street it turned sharply to the south, 
following closely the base of Fort Hill, formed the western 
boundary of Manhan meadows, and is supposed to have 
entered the Manhan River near its junction with the Con- 
necticut. The former channel may yet be distinctly traced. 
The town voted "to stop the mouths of the gutters that carry 
the water out of Mill River and into the meadows, whereby 
much damage is done." The work was great but unsuc- 
cessful, and in a few years the heroic remedy of changing the 
course of the river was adopted. 

Mr. Hawley was sent to Hartford to settle the boundary 
line, and to Deerfield to see about "forting the town." He 
was one of the five justices of Hampshire County; eight 
times selectman, and his service as deputy to the General 
Court extended over sixteen years. In short, he was a man 
of weight, of profound patriotism and stern integrity. He 
died on May 19th, 171 1, his death being caused by a wound 
inflicted by the horn of an ox. 

He left an unsigned will which, the widow and children 
consenting, was admitted to Probate. He and his wife had 
seven children, four sons and three daughters. He divided 
his real estate between Joseph and Ebenezer; two-thirds 
to Joseph and one-third to Ebenezer. The latter kept the 
homestead and Joseph bought the homestead of Thomas 



164 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

Sheldon on the opposite side of the street and built a home 
upon it soon after. He married Rebekah, the eleventh child 
of Rev. Solomon Stoddard, a woman of great energy and 
decision of character, of remarkable industry and economy 
and with business talents of a high order. Her husband was 
a man of more than ordinary ability, greatly respected and a 
leading citizen. Fifteen times he was chosen townsman and 
for eighteen years annually elected town clerk. He was also 
county treasurer. He carried on a successful mercantile 
business, probably here on Pudding Lane, selling dry goods 
and silk handkerchiefs, pipes — for both men and women 
smoked — and much rum. He was the first person in town 
to sell knives and forks. Mr. Hawley was not college bred, 
but lived the life of a quiet country gentleman, respected by 
all. He was evidently a person of culture, since he seems to 
have read both Latin and Greek. 

But this useful life came to a most melancholy end, and 
the whole community was shocked when, on Sunday morn- 
ing, June 1st, 1735, in a fit of despondency he cut his throat 
in his bedroom. 

Jonathan Edwards writing of this says, "In the latter 
part of May it began to be very sensible that the spirit of 
God was gradually withdrawing from us and after this time 
Satan seemed to be more let loose and raged in a dreadful 
manner. The first instance wherein it appeared, was a 
person's putting an end to his own life by cutting his throat. 
He was a gentleman of more than common understanding, of 
strict morals, religious in his behaviour, and an useful, 
honorable person in this town, but was of a family that are 
exceedingly prone to the disease of melancholy, and his 
mother was killed with it. He had been exceedingly con- 
cerned about the state of his soul and there were some things 
in his experience that appeared very hopefully, but he durst 
entertain no hope. The devil took the advantage and drove 
him into desparing thoughts." 

At the time of his father's death Joseph Hawley third — 
the great Joseph Hawley — was only twelve years old. He 
and his younger brother, Elisha, were the only children and 



MAJOR JOSEPH HAWLEY 165 

the care of them, as well as the management of farm and 
merchandise, devolved upon the mother, and fully equal to 
it she was. From her, Joseph inherited the sterner and 
stronger elements in his character. Exceedingly autocratic, 
she ruled her household with an iron hand. She refused 
her consent to Joseph's marriage, until he was nearly thirty 
— which in those days of early wedlock was an unusual 
age. When he finally braved her wrath and took to him- 
self a wife, she retired to her own side of the house and 
there conducted her own menage, making her famous butter 
and cheese, and superintending the building of a new cheese 
room when she was nearly seventy. 

She was of the type pictured so vividly by Mrs. Stowe 
and Mary Wilkins, I imagine — a type not yet extinct in 
New England, and some specirnens of which may be found 
still in Northampton. She died in 1766 and on her grave- 
stone in the cemetery is the rather quaint quotation, 

"Earth's highest station ends in 'here he lies' 
And 'dust to dust' concludes her noblest song." 

The little Joseph undoubtedly went to the village school, 
then taught by Dr. Samuel Mather, but very likely his 
grandfather Stoddard helped him prepare for college. He 
was certainly an apt pupil, for he entered Yale when sixteen 
years old and three years after wards graduated. Intending 
to become a minister he entered on a course of study at 
Harvard. In 1745, he served as chaplain in the expedi- 
tion against Louisburg, but like his grandfather Hawley, 
soon gave up preaching and commenced the study of law, 
in Suffield. 

In 1749, he began to practice here and soon took high 
rank. By the time he was fairly settled, came the trouble 
with his cousin, Rev. Jonathan Edwards, and the fact that 
he was on the wrong side in that melancholy business and 
one of the most active and effective of Mr. Edwards' oppo- 
nents, is remembered against him to this day. Mr. Edwards 
says of him, "The people in managing this affair have made 



1 66 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

chief use of a young gentleman of liberal education and 
notable abilities and a fluent speaker of about seven or eight 
and twenty years of age, my grandfather Stoddard's grand- 
son, being my mother's sister's son, a man of lax principles 
in religion, falling in, in some essential things, with the 
Arminians, and is very open and bold about it. He was 
one of the agents for the church and was their chief spokes- 
man before the council. He very strenuously urged an imme- 
diate separation." 

Four years after, having been convinced of his mistake, 
Major Hawley opened a correspondence with Mr. Edwards 
on the subject. The latter did not scruple to tell him the 
plain truth, "And, therefore. Sir, I think you made yourself 
greatly guilty in the sight of God in the part you acted In this 
affair and much from your own forwardness, putting yourself 
forward as it were, as tho' fond of meddling and helping, which 
were the less becoming, considering your youth and consider- 
ing your relation to me." If there is any epithet peculiarly 
exasperating it is that of "meddler," but with great sweetness 
Major Hawley replies, "I freely confess. Sir, and own, that 
the air and language, in which considerable of what I said 
was delivered, was irreverent, immodest, derisive, magisterial 
and savouring of haughtiness and levity, and such as illy 
became me. Sir, when arguing with you, who was so much 
my superior in age, station and accomplishments, for which 
I humbly and sincerely ask your forgiveness and am very 
sorry." But this full apology did not satisfy his exigent con- 
science and ten years later, two years after Mr. Edwards' 
death, he wrote a long letter to Rev. Mr. Hall of Sutton, a 
member of the two councils, in which he explains again the 
whole matter and says, "For all these my great sins, there- 
fore, I humbly and most earnestly ask the forgiveness of 
God, nextly of the relatives and near friends of Mr. Edwards. 
I also ask the forgiveness of those who were called Mr. 
Edwards' Adherents and of all the members of the ecclesi- 
astical councils above mentioned, and lastly of all Christian 
people who have had any knowledge of the matter." Surely 
it is not for us to remember this sin against him! 



MAJOR JOSEPH HAWLEY 167 

In town affairs Alajor Hawley was first called to serve 
as selectman, in 1747, and for the next forty years his name 
was scarcely ever omitted from the board. He had the rare 
talent of controlling men, was frequently moderator of town 
meetings, and once, while a member of the Legislature, was 
sent for to quiet the disorder of a town meeting in Boston 
which the moderator could not control. His law practice 
steadily increased and he soon reached the head of the bar 
in this section of the state. Mr. Trumbull says, "Though his 
reputation as a lawyer was equal to that of any of his con- 
temporaries, he was conscientious in all his dealings, moder- 
ate in his charges and never advocated a client whom he 
thought to be in the wrong." He never would take a fee when 
a corporation asked advice, nor from a widow or orphan. 
Major Hawley's legal career has been ably described by a 
lawyer, Mr. T. G. Spaulding, in an article in the Centennial 
Gazette. 

It was when John Adams was engaged in a case in the 
Court at Springfield that Major Hawley met him and the 
two became lifelong friends. First elected a member of the 
Legislature, in 175 1, it is for his distinguished services there 
and the very great influence he exerted in bringing about the 
War for Independence that Major Hawley's memory should 
be especially dear to us, Daughters of the Revolution. In- 
deed, I fear that we have never appreciated our debt to him 
for this cause alone, and, as daughters of Northampton, we 
owe him a still greater debt. 

In 1766, when the Stamp Act and the results of opposition 
to it were the all-absorbing topic, he was for the third time 
chosen to the Legislature and from then until the Revolution 
commenced was annually reelected. During this time Thomas 
Hutchinson, his lifelong enemy, wrote of him, "He was more 
attended to in the House than any of the leaders, but less 
active out of it; he was equally and perhaps more attended 
to than Samuel Adams." Governor Hutchinson, in 1773, 
endeavored to convince the Legislature and the people that 
Parliament had a right to make laws for America and to lay 
taxes. The reply of the committee appointed to answer this 



l68 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

speech was the most elaborate State paper of the Revolu- 
tionary Controversy in Massachusetts and Hutchinson states 
that Mr. Hawley and Samuel Adams had the greatest share 
in preparing it. 

In the legislative struggle relative to the Stamp Act, Mr. 
Hawley was in the forefront of the battle. He was one of the 
Committee of Correspondence. His opinion was sought 
and his knowledge of law relied on in every emergency. 
Wherever patriotism, legal ability or sound common sense 
were needed, there Major Hawley was conspicuous. He was 
elected a member of the Provincial Congress, whose duties 
were m inly preparation for the conflict, formation and 
equipment of militia, the adjustment of affairs with the gov- 
ernment of other colonies and the Continental Congress. 

During the whole of the Revolutionary struggle Major 
Hawley labored diligently to rouse the people to patriotism. 
He took a personal interest in the work of recruiting in his 
native town. He would frequently address the soldiers and, 
when recruits were scarce, would follow the drum and fife 
through the streets himself, till others, roused by his enthusi- 
asm, joined the procession. From one of his letters in the 
Forbes Library I copy this list of companies sent off to Crown 
Point by him in two weeks' time, in 1776, to recruit the 
Northern Army. 

"2 companies of 97 marched July 24, 1776 
I company 85 " " 29 

I " 92 " " 30 

I " 85 « Aug. 5 

3 others will go next Fryday by Bennington." 

This portion of a letter written by him to Thomas Cushing 
shows his wisdom and prudence on the brink of war. "When 
once the blow is struck it must be followed and we must 
conquer or all is lost forever. If we are not supported, per- 
severingly supported by divers other Colonies, can we expect 
anything else than in a short time to fall a prey to our 
enemies.^ JMay God make us consider it! I beg of you there- 



MAJOR JOSEPH HAWLEY 169 

fore as you love your country to use your utmost influence 
with our Committee of Safety, that our people be not mus- 
tered and that hostilities be not commenced until we have 
the express, categorial decision of the Continent that the 
time is absolutely come that hostilities ought to begin and 
that they will support us in continuing them. Sir, I think 
it is of much importance to do this! As you regard your own 
life and your usefulness to your country, you should most 
attentively watch all the steps and proceedings of the Court 
now sitting in Boston. If they get a grand jury then they 
will probably obtain indictment of high treason, and indict- 
ments will not be procured without a view and respect to 
arrests and commitments, convictions, hangings, drawings 
and quarterings. What your chance will be I need not tell 
you! I am with the most Sincere Regard, your most obedient 
Humble Servant, Joseph Hawley." 

Major Hawley declined to accept the position of delegate 
to the Continental Congress and the choice fell on his friend, 
John Adams, but he was strongly interested in the work of 
that body and wrote to Mr. Adams a paper which he called 
"Broken Hints," which was placed before the Convention. 
In this was the sentiment "Fight we must finally, unless 
Britain retreats," on hearing which Patrick Henry exclaimed, 
"By God, I am of this man's mind." The services of Major 
Hawley in the Legislature closed with his duties in the Pro- 
vincial Congress. He declined a seat in the Massachusetts 
Senate, refusing to take the oath of office because he said 
that the founders of Massachusetts, while church member- 
ship was a condition for the privilege of voting, never suffered 
a profession of the Christian religion to be made before a 
temporal Court. In short, he was as conscientious as patri- 
otic. He, more than any other patriot of his day, saw the 
tendency of affairs from the beginning, saw the end and threw 
his whole soul into the conflict. In the John Adams Papers 
it is said of him, "Of this remarkable man it is to be regretted 
that so few traces remain. Even under the pen of an enemj^, 
like Hutchinson, his character shines like burnished gold." 
I am sure you feel with me, that it is indeed a great soul we 



170 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

are trying to call back today, but it is very hard to make him 
seem anything but dim and unreal. 

Unfortunately there is no actual portrait of Major Hawley 
in existence, and the few and scattered personal facts I can 
gather are quite inadequate to a mental one. We expect a 
scientist to construct a prehistoric animal from a single bone, 
but I cannot expect you to construct Major Hawley from 
this bit of his christening blanket, though it speaks volumes 
as to his mother's economy in her first baby's outfit; nor 
from his tea-caddy, interesting as it is. These with his desk 
and snuff box are still preserved by his descendants in 
Northampton. 

In 1752, he married Mercy Lyman, said to have been a 
person of fine appearance and excellent disposition and a 
"beauty at seventy." She was always kind and affectionate 
towards him and treated him tenderly in all his despondency. 
This inherited melancholia tinged his whole career. "His 
great wit was sure to madness near allied." He lived to be 
sixty-five, and during the last twenty-four years of his life 
was more than half the time under this heavy cloud. "He 
smoked incessantly on such occasions and his eye had a wild 
and piercing look. In one of these times of despondency he 
destroyed papers that would now be very valuable. His 
friends. Doctor Mather, Doctor Hunt, Colonel Pomeroy and 
others would come to cheer him but rarely succeeded." 
These seasons of depression were followed by times of great 
exaltation, when he did much for the cause of liberty. 

He was plain and simple in all his tastes. In summer he 
rose at five and in winter at six. He cared for his own stock, 
"did the chores" in the barn himself while his wife did the 
milking. He did not carry on his farm but rented his meadow 
land. On Sundays he wore a checked shirt made by his wife 
and on other occasions was clad in homespun. He conducted 
religious services in his own family night and morning. Twice 
a week he shaved and always visited the schools directly 
after. Though not much of a singer, he was very fond of 
music and the church singers often met at his home to 
practice. 



MAJOR JOSEPH HAWLEY I/I 

He died in March, 1788. His wife survived him eighteen 
years, dying in 1806. They had no children. This tribute 
was paid him at his death: "He was temperate, just, bene- 
ficent and public-spirited, the friend of the poor and the 
patron of the oppressed, a disinterested statesman, an able 
and honest lawyer, an obliging neighbor and a good hus- 
band;" the following is from the Hampshire Gazette, pub- 
lished Wednesday, March 19, 1788: 

"On Wednesday last the remains of the Hon. Joseph 
Hawley, Esq., whose death was mentioned in our last, were 
respectfully interred after having been conveyed to the 
Meeting House where a sermon suitable to the occasion was 
delivered to the assembly by the Rev. Mr. Lyman of Hat- 
field, from these words in the three first verses of the third 
chapter of Isaiah: 'For behold the Lord, the Lord of Hosts, 
doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay 
and the stafi^, the mighty man and the prudent and the 
ancient and the honorable man and the counsellor and the 
eloquent orator.' The propriety of selecting these words on 
the occasion will be perceived by every one who was ac- 
quainted with Major Hawley. He was born in this town in 
October 1723 and descended from reputable ancestors; 
having received an education at Yale College he was for a 
short time a preacher of the gospel, but afterwards applied 
himself to the study of law, in which profession he soon 
arrived to eminence. His abilities were distinguished and his 
integrity was incorruptible. No man had a greater contempt 
for the low arts of chicane or more constantly endeavored to 
investigate truth and promote justice. 

"Although he was an example to others in economy, in- 
dustry and simplicity of life, and was many years one of the 
foremost at the bar, he made but a small addition to his 
patrimonial estate, but this secured him a competence, and 
as he had no children and never wished for riches to serve 
the purpose of luxury his mind was satisfied in itself and 
demanding no superfluity at home was left at full liberty to 
consult the interest and advance the happiness of his fellow 
men. 



172 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

"His native town reposed in him unlimited confidence. 
He was many years their representative in the General Court 
and before the war with Great Britain was chosen a member 
of the Council. In his political conduct he showed great 
zeal for liberty and attachment to the rights of the people 
but often regretted the disposition of many persons to abuse 
their liberty for a cloak of licentiousness. In public assem- 
blies he acquired controling influence, he addressed them with 
decorum and dignity and seldom failed to produce convic- 
tion by his manly eloquence and strength of argument. He 
was temperate, just, beneficent and public-spirited, the 
friend of the poor and the patron of the oppressed, a disin- 
terested statesman, an able and honest lawyer, an obliging 
neighbor and a good husband. He was an early and 
exemplary professor of the Christian religion and may years 
a deacon in the church and used the office of a deacon well. 

"During the three last years of his life he was confined by 
hypochondriac disorders which had before affected him at 
diflferent periods and had rendered him in some instances 
variable and inconsistent. He bore the pains of his last 
illness without complaint and has left a disconsolate widow 
and many friends to lament his death." In his will, which 
may be seen at the Hampshire County Court House, he 
says: "I will and order that my body be interred with but 
only ordinary decency and ceremony." His bequest to his 
wife is made with this tribute: "To my Beloved wife, 
Mercy, with a most affectionate remembrance of her industry, 
tenderness, goodness and fidelity to me, ever since our inter- 
marriage and especially at those seasons when my case and 
state have been most particularly and extraordinarily exer- 
cising and troublesome." 

But in the rest of the will we have a personal interest. 
Let me read his message to us. "I do hereby give and 
devise all the said Lands and tenements to the inhabitants 
of the aforesaid town of Northampton to be holden forever 
without distribution, by the town, and I most heartily hereby 
recommend to said town that they should carefully see to 
it that such Schools as the laws of this Commonwealth do or 



MAJOR JOSEPH HAWLEY 



173 



shall require the said town to maintain, be supported and 
maintained in a steady and liberal manner and by faithful 
and able masters taught and instructed, an affection to 
learning and the good education of the successive genera- 
tions of the Lads of Northampton being a great motive to 
the making of this Devise as well as hearty Benevolence to 
the town where I was born and lived most of my days and 
which has seen fit from the early days of my manhood to 







honour me with many instances of their respect, esteem and 
confidence." 

The real estate so devised consisted of about a thousand 
acres, eight hundred in Belchertown and his own land on 
Hawley Street, his Uncle Ebenezer having left the original 
homestead to him. It has all now been converted into 
savings bank funds and amounts to about ^3,000, the income 
of which annually helps our school expenses. For over 
thirty years the grammar school was by special vote of 
the town supported by this income and called the "Hawley 
School," but in 1824 it was discontinued. 



174 



EARLY NORTHAMPTON 



Very fitting is it then, as Northampton comes to her two 
hundred and fiftieth birthday, and, turning the dusty leaves 
of her early history, singles out here and there "from all her 
saints who from their labors rest" a name for special honor, 
that once more shall rise within her borders a "Hawley 
Grammar School." For all the little lads and lassies who 
shall throng its portals in the glad years to be, we can wish 
nothing better than that they may emulate the sterling 
character, the patriotism, the "plain living and high think- 
ing" of Major Joseph Hawley. 




THE OLD FERRIES AND BRIDGES 



The Old Ferries and Bridges 



The Connecticut, the River of Pines, the Great River, 
how large a place it must have filled in the minds of the early 
settlers! What were their thoughts and fears as they first 
looked upon a great spring flood, covering all their choice 
meadow lands on which they depended for food for man 
and beast! The quiet rivers of the midland countries of 
England from which they came showed no such phenomena. 
Knowing nothing of the upper reaches of the river, imagina- 
tion could only picture the dark forests, the haunts of 
savage beasts and more savage men. 

In popular speech it was always the "Great River" and 
in Maverick's description of New England, published in 
London in 1660, he says, "The Connecticut is a great river 
before the town, bigger than the Thames above the bridge." 
Ebenezer Hunt's diary speaks again and again of the spring 
and, often, of winter floods of the — "Great River," and of 
"the greatest hight of water ever remembered by the oldest 
inhabitant." To reach any neighboring town, Springfield 
on the south or Hadley on the east, the river must be crossed. 
The only means of crossing was by boat or Indian canoe. In 
1658 a boat was built by order and at the expense of the 
town, but there is no record to show its shape or capacity. 
The course was to a point a little below the present ferry at 
Hockanum. 

Rules were made for the use of the ferry. Goodman 
Bartlett living at the lower end of Pleasant Street was ap- 
pointed to keep the key of the boat and each man was his 
own ferryman. Any person having the key delivered to 
him "shall stand the hazard of the boat till the key be re- 
turned to the keeper. 'No person could keep the boat more 
than an hour and a half and if they neglect to deliver up the 
key for an hour after returning they shall pay a fine of two 
shillings and sixpence; further, anyone who shall lose or 
break the oars shall pay for them or provide as good as they 
were again." 



178 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

Mr. Trumbull thinks these rules prove that this ferry- 
was not used for travelers, although there was a road to 
Springfield on the east side of the river before the town of 
Hadley was settled. Soon after that time a ferry was estab- 
lished to Northampton. It started at the lower end of 
Hadley Street and was reached on the Northampton side 
by a road through that part of the meadow called Old Rain- 
bow. In 1664, a committee was appointed by the County 
Court to consider the matter of a ferry. The Court ordered 
that Northampton should keep the ferry in the place where 
the Court "did determine the highways between the two 
towns shall meet; Northampton to manage the ferry with 
sufficient vessels for attending the same, for which they shall 
have six pence a horse and two pence a person, except for 
troopers when they shall pass to and fro for military service, 
who shall be carried for three pence a horse and man." 
Lieut. Joseph Kellogg of Hadley was the ferryman for nearly 
twenty years and his descendants for almost a century; 
afterwards, Stephen Goodman (whose wife was a daughter 
of James Kellogg, the last incumbent of that name), and from 
him called Goodman's Ferry. 

The ferry was to be supplied with boats and canoes for all 
sorts of passengers through the day, and in the night when 
necessity required, but "not after nine o'clock for men in 
their ordinary occasions." Double price was charged at 
night until nine o'clock "and after that and in extraordinary 
storms and floods upon such terms as can be agreed upon 
with the ferry man." Magistrates and deputies were freed 
from paying, the ferryman to bring their accounts to the 
Court to be paid from the county rates. No other person was 
allowed to carry passengers within fifty feet of the ferry, 
unless the ferryman neglected his duty. 

The first ferry established by the County Courts at 
Hockanum was in 1755 and Gideon Lyman was ferryman. 
There is no record of a ferry between Hadley and Hatfield 
until 1692, but as many persons on the east side owned and 
cultivated land on the west, canoes and boats were frequently 
passing, so that the river must have been the scene of much 



THE OLD FERRIES AND BRIDGES 179 

lively traffic. Here the ferriage was fourpence for a horse 
or horned beast, and one penny for a man, if paid down in 
money. If not so paid the ferryman might demand double 
or do as the two parties could agree. The only means of 
crossing the river for one hundred and fifty years was by 
these two ferries. 

While the saying had long been current — "as impossible 
as to bridge the Great River," early in 1800 the question of 
a bridge began to be agitated. The settlers brought with 
them from England the idea of toll roads and toll bridges. 
The toll or turnpike roads were more common in the eastern 
part of the state, although attempts were made to form 
turnpike companies in this region. In the old Gazettes we 
find notices of such corporations, as well as advertisements 
of those who wished to build the roads. 

President Dwight of Yale College, in his "New England 
Travels in the Year 1800," speaks of traveling over a road 
near Providence of which two stretches, of perhaps five miles 
each, were turnpiked, while between were miles of the 
roughest sort of traveling. Upon inquiry he learned that 
after spending the sum of money appropriated by the Legis- 
lature, upon asking for more to complete the road, those 
building it were told that "turnpike roads and the State 
Church had their origin in Great Britain, the government 
of which was a monarchy and the inhabitants slaves. That 
the people of Massachusetts and Connecticut were obliged 
by law to support ministers and pay their fare on turnpike 
roads and were therefore slaves also; that if they chose to 
be slaves they undoubtedly had a right to their choice; but 
the free born Rhode Islanders ought never to submit to be 
priest ridden nor to pay for the privilege of traveling on the 
highwa3^" He goes on to state that the turnpike was com- 
pleted in 1905 and that "the free born Rhode Islanders" 
bowed their necks to the shame of traveling on a good road. 

Josiah Quincy in his "Reminiscences," tells of a man who 
riding on the Sabbath at a most ungodly rate of speed was 
stopped by the toll man, but upon the plea that his father 
was lying dead in Salem he was allowed to proceed. When 



l8o EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

the gate had been raised and he was well beyond reach, rising 
in his stirrups he called back, "My father has been lying 
dead in Salem for twenty }'ears!" 

There are still in Pennsylvania, and in other states, 
many turnpike roads. During an afternoon's drive in the 
suburbs of Philadelphia on the old York or Lancaster 
roads, one may several times have the privilege of paying 
toll. In case of fast driving automobiles one can easily see 
the usefulness of toll houses. 

As a case in point, a young man who was much given to 
exceeding the speed limit, one day found himself rushing 
past a toll house at a most unlawful rate. The toll man, 
unable to stop him, immediateh' telephoned the next toll 
house that a big white automobile was coming at lightning 
speed, whereupon the second toll man, being slight of 
stature and lame, mounted a chair in the middle of the 
road, vigorously waved a flag, stopped the lawbreaker and 
collected his fine, to the great amusement of the criminal. 
A bill was introduced into the Pennsylvania Legislature in 
191 1 to abolish all toll roads in the state, on the plea that 
they were the worst to be found within its boundaries. It 
was proposed to appropriate $2,000,000 for their purchase. 
The Legislature refusing to appropriate any money, either 
for purchase or for repairs, virtually abolished the roads. 

But to return for a little to our ferries. Before 1758, a 
ferry was running at the site of the present bridge across the 
Connecticut, at Bridge Street. It was called Clark's Ferry 
and was owned and run by Ezra Clark. In 1742, Benjamin 
Alvord sold to Ezra Clark a parcel of land and a house at 
the end of Bridge Street near the river. In the same year 
Ezra Clark was licensed to keep an inn, and because of no 
evidence to the contrary and much internal proof of age, 
we may conclude that the old inn and the later toll house 
were one and the same with the house standing in 1742. 
No one can tell us how much earlier it was built. 

Benjamin Alvord was an express rider, a sort of courier 
de bois, frequently mentioned for his courage and daring, 
being often employed in the troublous Indian and later 



THE OLD FERRIES AND BRIDGES l8l 

Revolutionary times, to carry supplies, papers and messages 
of importance, for the different leaders. Alany were his 
hair-breadth escapes from the frenzy of the elements, and 
schemes of the enemy; and thrilling tales must have been 
told beside the great fireplace of the old inn. An early map 
shows a ferry at this point, in 1794, and the Court House 
records mention Ezra Clark as ferryman "at the usual place" 
in 1758. How much earlier there was crossing at this point 
we do not know, but all the travel to the east and south, 
after the year 1661, came past this house, crossing either at 
Goodman's Ferry from Old Rainbow, or here. 

For more than one hundred and thirty years it stood as 
an inn and toll house, and for thirty-five more it has looked 
on as the procession has moved by, though having no active 
part in the drama. Perchance it has seen the Rev. Mr. 
Solomon Stoddard pass on his way to Boston to attend 
ministers' meetings and to visit Judge Sewell. Perhaps the 
"Saintly Edwards," in his much loved study of Natural 
History, may have strolled along the river bank. The 
stately John Stoddard, taking his four beautiful daughters 
to school in Boston, must have journeyed on horseback by 
this road; also Caleb Strong and Major Hawley, discussing 
it may be, the troubles of the times as they went to consult 
with John Adams and the great spirits of the Revolution. 

Past here came the rush of the minutemen to Lexington, 
and Burgoyne with some of his defeated soldiers crossed over 
on their way to the coast and England. In 1792, came the 
stagecoach and its crowds of passengers going to "the Bay" 
over the old Bay Road. The grave judges, coming to hold 
Court in Northampton and to lend the lustre of their presence 
to its social life, also crossed this ferry and passed by the 
Clark Inn. 

Later came the rollicking groups of students bound for 
Amherst, and not seldom a reverend professor walked over 
to preach to us of Northampton and exhaust his rhetoric on 
the beauty of our situation and our great privileges, from 
the text, "As the mountains are round about Jerusalem," 
or "The trees of the Lord are full of sap, the Cedars of 



152 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

Lebanon which he hath planted," (the Elms along our high- 
ways). 

What joyous mugs of hot flip have been handed out 
from the old inn to shivering riders! What cooling decoc- 
tions of mint from the old garden have revived the wilted 
spirits of travelers in the stuffy stagecoach! Some of us 
would be quite willing to affirm that the skill of such decoc- 
tions has descended in the family, even to the present day. 

With ears too, as well as with eyes, has the old house 
shared in our history. In shivering dread has it heard the 
great river rushing past with its grinding ice pack in the 
flood tide of spring, or again the shrill cry of the Indian, 
gliding past in his canoe. It has listened for the long winding 
note of the post horn as the stage came up through the 
meadows, bringing its news of good or ill; and to the sound 
of the hammers as the timbers were fitted into place on that 
wonder of wonders, the "Great Bridge!" It has heard after 
long A'ears of waiting, the whistle of the locomotive, the 
whirr of the "broom stick train," and in these last years, 
the chug-chug of the horseless carriage. W^ho shall say that 
it may not sometime listen to the flapping of great wings as 
the aeroplanes fly past on the air-line from Boston to 
Chicago.^ 

Of the interior life of the house who can tell us.^ With a 
family of ten children for whom to plant and mow, to weave 
and sew, bake and brew, with the outside world asking for 
entertainment in food and drink, there was scant time for 
keeping diaries. The first Ezra Clark, great, great grandson 
of Lieut. William, was one of the Committee of Safety and 
was many times chosen selectman. Of the next generation, 
Jonas, the head, was three years a soldier of the Revolution. 
His diary records many a bit of rough experience, cheerfully 
borne for the sake of country, and of wife and children in the 
old home by the river. 

The next family, that of Spencer Clark, gives us only the 
simple annals of seven small children to be clothed, fed and 
mothered— but the busy mother never too tired each week, 
year after year, to remember, with the pot of beans and loaf 




O 'c^ 



5 ==) 



u 



THE OLD FERRIES AXD BRIDGES 183 

of bread, her less fortunate neighbors, "the Lord's poor," 
living in the little lane along the river bank. The Rev. Jonas 
Clark, Mr. Charles Clark of the Hartford Courant, and our 
former Regent, Miss Sergeant, are some of the more well- 
known descendants of the old home. There is no register to 
tell us who were the distinguished guests of the inn, but 
truly it has been a "house by the side of the road" and "a 
friend to man." 

Although the corporation for building the bridge from 
Northampton to Hadley was formed in 1803, it was not 
finished until 1808. Meanwhile one had been built at Hat- 
field, crossing from the southern end of Main Street to the 
southerly point of the Bishop Huntington property in North 
Hadley. The funds for building this bridge were raised 
largely by lottery, and for several years the advertisement of 
the Hatfield lottery figures in the old Gazette, along with 
the Harvard College lottery and that of the South Hadley 
Falls Canal. 

The Hatfield bridge was formally opened October 20th, 
1807. In the sermon preached on that occasion by Rev. 
Joseph Lyman, he considers the building of the bridge as one 
of the signs presaging the millenium. After speaking of the 
wonders wrought by the art of printing, the discovery of the 
magnet with the application of its mysterious powers, and 
the great increase of wealth, he says: "The establishment of 
packets and stages, the erection of useful public buildings 
and bridges, are to be attributed to the wisdom of Provi- 
dence in ripening and preparing the world for a better state 
of society in some approaching age." He quotes "an intelli- 
gent friend" as saying, "The uncommon zeal and activity 
of the people in opening canals, making roads and establish- 
ing stages will not be lost labor. We are at work for those 
who will live in the millenium." 

He continues, "The throwing of bridges across the wide 
flowing and rapid waters of the Connecticut would a few 
years since have been treated as an ideal and romantic pro- 
jection. But we are this day convened to acknowledge the 
goodness of Providence in the finishing and opening of the 



184 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

fifteenth bridge erected over that magnificent and potent 
stream." He thanks the proprietors, directors, patrons, 
contractors, and laborers and especially the Legislature of 
the Commonwealth, for granting the privilege of the lottery 
for raising funds, and concludes: "The Hatfield bridge this 
day opened may be viewed as a specimen of human art and 
skill, of what great and noble projects may be accomplished 
by liberal zeal and constant pertinaceous perseverance." 

Copies of this sermon were sold at the time for twelve 
and one-half cents. In 1900 a copy, which is now in the 
Amherst College Library, was ofltered for sale at $25.00. 
This bridge did not prove a profitable investment, whether 
because it was founded on a lottery or because the "perti- 
naceous perseverance" did not continue, who shall say? 
After 182 1 it became unsafe; the proprietors did not repair 
or rebuild it, and by 1824 it was pulled down, the stone of 
the abutments being sold to the highest bidder. 

The Northampton bridge was finished in October, 1808; 
the Gazette of October 19th gives notice of the approaching 
celebration. From the issue of November 2d, 1808, I copy 
this account: 

On Thursday last the completion and opening of the 
Northampton bridge was celebrated in this town by the 
Proprietors and an immense concourse of people assembled 
for the purpose. The importance of the undertaking to the 
public excited the interest and attention of all, and the 
expedition, perseverance and ability which have been dis- 
played in accomplishing it are equally honorable to the 
enterprise of the Proprietors, and the talents and profes- 
sional skill of the contractors. At eleven o'clock a procession 
was formed at the house of Mr. Jonas Clark and moved in 
the following order, viz.: 

Marshal Gen. Porter on horseback, 

Music. 

Capt. Breck's Co. Artillery, 

Citizens and strangers, 

Workmen at the Bridge, 

Contractors, 



THE OLD FERRIES AND BRIDGES 1 85 

Two Standards borne by two Lieutenants, 

Members of the Corporation, 

Clerk and Treasurer, 

Directors, 

President and Clergy, 

Deputy Marshal, Major Chapman on horseback. 

In this order the procession passed and repassed the 
Bridge under the salute of minute guns which were alter- 
nately discharged from opposite banks of the river. In the 
centre of the Bridge a temporary arch was erected elegantly 
decorated with evergreens, over which three United States 
standards were tastefully arranged. 

From the Bridge the procession marched to the meeting 
house where an ingenious, elegant and truly appropriate 
sermon was delivered by the Rev. Mr. Willard of Deerfield 
from the words, "Hath not my hand made all these things.^" 
As this sermon is now in press it is sufficient here to remark 
that it gave universal appreciation to a very numerous and 
crowded auditory. In noticing this celebration it would be 
unjust not to mention the superior style in which the choir 
of singers performed the parts assigned to them, as well as 
the taste displayed in selecting the pieces of music. 

Rev. Samuel Willard, in his sermon, after speaking at 
length of the great works of God and the insignificance of 
any work of man, goes on to draw a lively picture of the 
desolation and distress of the European countries caused by 
their wars and by military exactions, and concludes: "Our 
inquiries are not how shall we contrive to raise or support 
vast armies, either for our protection or for the gratification 
of an ambitious and bloodthirsty master or ally, but how 
shall we enlarge and beautify our dwellings, alleviate by 
mechanical aid the ordinary labors of life and by the im- 
provement of roads, the erection of bridges, etc., facilitate 
the journeys of those who travel for business, health or 
amusement.^ The improvements made in our country within 
these twenty years are perhaps unexampled. It is only a 
few years since the establishment of the first turnpike roads 



1 86 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

in our country and now a great part of the considerable places 
in the Union are connected by turnpikes. In the number and 
length of our bridges, tho not in the materials of which they 
are composed, we rival almost every country under heaven. 

A comparison of our condition with that of most foreign 
countries should awaken within us the most generous sym- 
pathy for their degradation and distress, while it enkindles 
within us the most lively gratitude to the Giver of all good 
for his distinguished favors. 

After divine service a large party consisting of the Cor- 
poration and numerous civil and military Guests retired to 
the Inn of Barnabas Billings where an elegant entertainment 
was provided. After dinner a number of toasts were drunk 
and joy and festivity closed the day." 

This bridge was an open one, and as would seem from 
the descriptions, was built upon arches resting on abutments; 
the planking followed the arches so that the crossing was a 
series of rises and descents. The contractors and builders 
were Jonathan Wolcott and Peleg Kingsley, and the cost 
$13,500. 

It was the custom in those early years to allow the clergy 
to pass over the bridge free. We find in the records that this 
privilege was voted to Rev. Solomon Williams, Northampton; 
Rev. Mr. Woodbridge, Hadley; Dr. Joseph Lyman, West- 
field; Rev. Dr. Parsons and Rev. Mr. Perkins, Amherst; 
Rev. Payson Williston, Easthampton, and Rev. Enoch Hale, 
of Westhampton. 

Until 1856 the toll gate was near the old toll house, 
twenty rods west of the bridge. In 1857, a toll-gatherer's 
house was built close to the entrance. The first bridge was 
in use for nine years; the one which replaced it was de- 
stroyed by a flood; and in 1826, the long wooden, covered 
bridge, which some of us remember, was built. Another 
flood in 1859 carried oflt the western end of this structure, 
but it was replaced and with the older half remained until 
destroyed in 1877. In that year a tornado lifted it bodily 
from the piers and dropped it in the river. Although eleven 
teams and sixteen people were crossing upon it at the time, 



THE OLD FERRIES AND BRIDGES 187 

only one person was killed, and three injured. The newspa- 
pers of the day give a lively description of the destruction 
of this bridge. Mr. Solomon Clark drove furiously down to 
the center of the town, shouting, "the Hadley bridge is 
down! the Hadley Bridge is down!" The fire bells were 
rung and all Northampton rushed for the scene of the dis- 
aster. 

On the Hadley side of the bridge, on the three piers 
nearest the river bank, not a board or piece of timber was 
left, only the foundation stones; the western half was tipped, 
one end being in the river and the other resting against a 
pier. Looking at the ruin, it seemed impossible that a human 
being or animal could have gone down in the wreck and come 
out alive. The force of the wind was so great that a well- 
grown boy, son of Mr. Charles Cook of Hadley, walking 
in the road at the eastern end of the bridge, was blown 
up fifteen feet in the air into the branches of a poplar 
tree. 

The present iron bridge was built the next year, 1878. 
It is 1218 feet long, a little less than a quarter of a mile. Toll 
was taken for all persons except clergymen until 1875, when 
the towns of Northampton, Amherst and Hadley bought 
the property and the bridge was made free. The receipts 
from tolls for the first year of the bridge's existence — 1808 — 
were $546.72; for the last year, $1,875; fo^" the entire period 
that tolls were collected they amounted to $6,300. 

The treasurers of the Bridge Company were: 

Ebenezer Hunt 1808-1824, 

Samuel Lyman iSu^ "1830, 

John Clark 1830-1869^ 

Oscar Edwards 1869-1875. 

The toll gatherers: 

James Clark 1808-1814, 

Spencer Clark 1815-1855, 

Robert Graves 1855-1856, 

Edward Clapp 1 856-1 864, 

Hiram Day 1864-1875. 



1 88 



EARLY NORTHAMPTON 



In accordance with an Act of the Legislature, when the 
bridge was made free, a commission adjudged the worth of 
the property at $25,000. Of this sum the county paid $1 1,000, 
Northampton $7,000, Hadley $4,000 and Amherst $3,000. 
Northampton was to keep the bridge in repair, while the 
expense was to be borne by the three towns, in proportion 
to their share in the property. 

The Gazette of January 26th, 1875, says, "On and after 
Wednesday, January 27th, the toll gate, which has existed 
for seventy years, will be known 'no more forever.'" 

And so "the old order changeth, yielding place to the 
new." 




GLEANINGS FROM EARLY 
GAZETTES 



Gleanings from Early Gazettes 



The man who, two centuries ago, said he that made the 
ballads of a people was more influential than he that made 
the laws has long since been out of date. Who now reads a 
ballad unless it be of empire like Kipling's, or of baseball 
like the tale of the unconquerable Casey? Supremacy has 
passed to the press, the great Fifth Estate, lording it over 
all the others, high and low, rich and poor alike. Few people 
know, perhaps, how largely their opinions are formed by the 
newspapers they read, or how much they depend upon them 
for the pleasure and variety of life: — perhaps it may be added 
as an escape valve for a grumbling disposition! Fortunate 
is the small city supporting a daily paper which for over a 
hundred years has labored to promote good things and shame 
bad things, to help good men and hinder bad men, to stand 
for cleanness of contents and conduct. A little humdrum 
occasionally, is our old Gazette, but so is life. If the aim of 
both is high, let that suffice. 

On what a queer Shop Row did this same paper of ours 
first appear! It was September 6th, 1786, and Northampton 
had a population of about 1,700 people, but no post office, 
no railway, no steam engine, almost no money, although the 
inhabitants were well to do. From the Forbes Library lot 
down to Kingsley's drug store the only buildings were private 
dwelling-houses — seven of them. Thence to the corner of 
Pleasant Street a few shops divided the space, with the 
meeting-house, court house and school house across the way, 
and more house lots and houses straggled back to the top of 
the hill and Daniel Pomeroy's red tavern, where the big hole 
now is that may sometime, when dreams come true, be a 
fine little park. The houses were low and built of wood, and 
sidewalks there were none. But in spite of the bareness of 
surroundings there were giants in those days, and the men 
that stood by the cradle of the young Gazette and fostered it, 



192 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

and watched its growth, were strong of intellect, patriotic 
and wise. 

There are but eight newspapers still in existence in the 
United States which were regularly appearing in the year 
when our own began, the one of earliest date being the 
Gazette of Annapolis, Md., some thirty years its senior. The 
Hartford Courant and Worcester Spy were already well 
established, but the Republican was not founded until 1824, 
and the only paper regularly published in Springfield in 1786 
died the next year. According to Mr. Henry C. Gere, 
our one authority for everything Gazettian — late may he 
return to heaven! — the paper was founded to meet a just 
demand of the best Northampton men in the time of a some- 
what grave crisis. Shays' Rebellion, which had its origin 
in popular discontent with the existing order of legislation 
and administration (largely because of widespread though 
unpreventable poverty), had for five years been growing in 
violence and intemperance, and only a week before the first 
copy of the Gazette was printed, an armed mob had taken 
possession of our court-house yard and prevented the session 
of the court of common pleas. The following week the sittings 
of the court in Worcester were stopped, and through the 
interference with the course of justice in Berkshire, a jail in 
Great Harrington was broken open by the mob and several 
prisoners liberated. So it seemed high time that some means 
should be provided for reaching the people, and reasoning 
with them. 

Governor Strong, Major Hawley, Dr. Joseph Lyman, the 
Rev. Solomon Stoddard, Asahel Pomeroy, the Rev. Enoch 
Hale — there is no danger that we shall repeat our bead-roll 
too often — all were ready to support a new paper in a patri- 
otic attempt to suppress lawlessness, to counsel peace through 
submission to proper authority, and to stand firmly by the 
side of the government of the Commonwealth. So the 
Hampshire Gazette began, not merely as a money-making 
scheme, but with high aims and notable endeavor. 

William Butler was its founder, a young man of only 
twenty-two years, who had learned the printer's trade in 



GLEANINGS FROM EARLY GAZETTES I93 

Hartford. At first in the rear of Benjamin Prescott's house 
on the corner of Main and Pleasant Streets — "a. few rods 
east of the court house" say the first copies, — and then in a 
building erected for the purpose on the opposite corner of 
Pleasant Street, where the one hand press and editorial ofBce 
occupied the second floor, and Mr. Daniel Butler "kept 
store" below, he published and edited his little journal for 
nearly twenty-nine years, with good sense and wisdom. The 
paper was circulated by postriders who covered a circuit of 
forty or fifty miles, going as far as Pittsfield, Russell, Ware, 
Springfield and Longmeadow. Its cost at first was nine 
shillings a year, or their equivalent in wheat, wood, produce, 
or whatever could be obtained, and for fifty-five years it 
was printed on a hand press. The first copies consisted of 
four pages about sixteen inches by ten and one-half in size, 
and divided into three columns. 

Its second publisher, Mr. William W. Clapp, made great 
innovations, not only buying a new press and type (those in 
use went back to the time of its founder nearly thirty years 
before) but going to dangerous lengths in the make-up of the 
paper, leading the news, increasing the advertising matter, 
and narrowing the columns so each page contained four 
instead of three. This was as revolutionary as the change 
recently made in the first page of the Springfield Republican 
and provoked as much discussion, the general opinion being 
that the good old times of morality and precision had forever 
departed and that the world was tottering to its fall. 

After Mr. Butler sold the paper to Mr. Clapp there was a 
period of less than fifty years before the name of Gere began 
to be connected with it, and the record is indeed unique which 
has kept one name on an editorial page for more than half a 
century. 

But it is time we were asking about the contents of the 
little sheet published every Wednesday for so many years 
in the small Pleasant Street building. 

One is bound to say to begin with, that JMr. Butler in- 
tended to make the Gazette instructive and improving. No 
gossip. Oh no! little home news — often not a single item — 



194 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

no hilarious advertisements like those of the Mt. Tom railway 
and Mr. Sullivan's coal yard, no unbending of the editorial 
back by the use of slang or colloquial English, — like Mr. 
Weller, he abhorred everything low! A sense of his lofty 
mission kept his language Addisonian, and his sentiments 
serious. 

The first two numbers have ceased to be. A facsimile of 
the third, published September 20th, 1786, was printed in 
the centennial number, September 6th, 1886, and is before 
me. It begins with a prospectus, full of wisdom and modestly 
expressed, followed by a three columned letter addressed to 
"My Countrymen," i. e., the freeholders of the county of 
Hampshire and signed "An old Republican," containing 
"strictures upon county conventions in general and upon 
the late meeting holden in Hatfield in particular." "Aris- 
tides" follows with an appeal to citizens to support the 
authorities in a sitting of the Superior Court soon to take 
place in Springfield — an appeal showing how serious was the 
crisis which Shays' Rebellion had brought about. The next 
article is an elegant extract from the Connecticut Courant, 
said to be by an American, prefaced by two lines of Tacitus, 
and headed "The Establishment of the Worship of the 
Deity Essential to National Happiness." We are next given 
a touch — just a touch — of frivolity in an advertisement by 
John Baggs, who says that he has lost, between Captain 
Cole's tavern in Chesterfield and Northampton, his saddle- 
bags, which contained "2 Holland shirts, i pr. black russet 
Breeches, one white silk vest, one pair mixed cotton Stock- 
ings, one pair hemp Stockings, one pair Shoes, two pair 
Buckles (one silver and the other plated) and sundry other 
articles." This would form such an excellent outfit for a 
week-end visit that one wonders who the girl was, and hopes 
the saddle-bags were delivered according to request to Cap- 
tain Cole in Chesterfield or Mr. Elisha Lyman in North- 
ampton and the promised reward secured from Mr. Bagg. 
There still remained a corner at the bottom of the second page 
which was thriftily filled by a notice that Asa Ludden, 
N. Cleaveland, Jr., and Ephraim Fisher of Williamsburg 



GLEANINGS FROM EARLY GAZETTES I95 

were prepared to receive the creditors of the insolvent estate 
of John Bagley at a certain place, on certain days to follow. 
"No accounts allowed unless properly avouched" sounds 
very strict and businesslike. 

The third page has more variety. It contains a descrip- 
tion of the new United States coins — and we stop to bless 
our stars that the United States in Congress assembled 
adopted the decimal system — bits of news, — from Charleston 
about a sale of state paper money at public vendue, from 
Richmond describing a jail delivery, and from Philadelphia 
an oratorical encomium on the illustrious hero, George 
Washington, the "second Cincinnatus Maximus," who is 
described as having retired after "raising a temple of ada- 
mant to liberty" "to enjoy otium cum dignitate in the arms 
of domestic happiness." 

Then follows news from Fairfield of a decidedly modern 
and agitating character, reminding one of the present-day 
telegrams from that cyclonic center Wilkes-Barre, Pa. 
Listen to these two items: "On Tuesday last, Mr. Samuel 
Downs, an inhabitant of Green's Farms, was carrying a child 
of his on horseback, accidentally the beast making a misstep, 
threw them both, and unfortunately put a period to the 
child's life" — truly a tender euphemism. — And to this: 
"On the last Sabbath, in a neighboring parish from this, 
were propounded for marriage a young couple, when the 
lady arose up, and with an air of surprise, renounced the 
mutual tye, to the great astonishment of the congregation." 
I confess ever since first reading this I have been mad with 
curiosity as to why the lady did this, for in those days the 
"mutual tye" we suppose to have been stronger than such 
vows today. 

An extract of a letter from a gentleman in Rhode Island 
which is given a place on this same spicy third page is also 
modern in thought in that it heaps abuse upon the doings of 
the Assembly in that huflfy little state, concluding with, 
"when a vote was taken, it was rejected by a large majority. 
There were only eight sufficiently hardened to go this length 
in iniquity." Hurrying back to see what this atrocious bill 



196 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

was about we find it had to do with the negotiability of notes, 
and breathe more freely. 

It seems quite suitable that the foreign news of the week 
should come to Northampton through Boston; but it con- 
sists in giving an instance of impartial justice on the part of 
the King of Prussia (I meant to look up dates and find 
whether this was a Frederick, a William, a Frederick William 
or a William Frederick!) who condemned a magistrate con- 
victed of extortion and corruption to hard labor for two years 
on the public works. 

James Bowdoin, Esquire, Governor of the Common- 
wealth of Massachusetts, issues a proclamation printed in 
our next column, calling an extra session of the General 
Court to deal with the tumults and disorders taking place in 
several counties of the State, and requesting all members of 
said Court to take notice, and govern themselves accordingly. 

The long article on the fourth page is again an extract, 
from the Independent Chronicle, with a text from "Proverbs" 
and signed "Publicus," which seriously arraigns the riot- 
ing mob, and begs men of prosperity and weight to stand by 
law and order. 

So far the only thing of local interest has been a brief 
notice of the death of Mr. Joseph Hunt in the 78th year of 
his age and an advertisement reading thus: "Wanted as an 
Apprentice to the Printing business, a smart active lad, 
about 14 years of age." Careful search finds nothing more 
having anything to do with Northampton except two more 
advertisements. One reads, "For sale, at the Printing-office 
in Northampton, the 1st, 2d, and 3d part of Webster's In- 
stitute. Also, Watts' Psalms, Primers, Blanks of most kinds, 
and a few copies of Col. Humphrey's Poems. Cash, or any 
of the above Books given for Rags and old Fish Net." This, 
though at first staggering, for who would exchange W^atts' 
Psalms for rags.^' — seems on reflection to guarantee that the 
paper used for printing upon was properly made in the mill 
at Paper Mill village, and to give a reason why this interest- 
ing century-old sheet has been preserved. I doubt whether 
tonight's issue will last as well. The other advertisement 




Henry S. Gere 
Editor of the Hampshire Gazette from 1849 until 1914 



GLEANINGS FROM EARLY GAZETTES I97 

which completes the last column of the last page informs us 
with more large type than we find elsewhere that "a great 
quantity of Coarse Salt is to be sold or exchanged for Flax- 
seed at the store of Solomon Allen, opposite the Aleeting 
House in Northampton, on the best terms." Whether this 
signifies an epidemic of bronchitis or a praiseworthy desire 
to stimulate the use of the distaff, who can say? 

So, with much political and heavenly wisdom, but little 
of the charming news-item of today, — and what would we 
not give to know about the afternoon teas of Airs. Strong 
and Mrs. Pomeroy, or the summer vacations of their domes- 
tics, or the building of their new houses- — the Gazette moved 
along its dignified and stately way, giving for years most of 
its news space to things happening far off. Still, in the small 
community the existing, local matters must have been well 
discussed around the fires of home and shop, days before the 
Wednesday that brought out the paper painfully produced 
by hand labor on Pleasant Street, and why give time or space 
to them.^ Mr. Gere says that when the famous "old church" 
was dedicated in 1812 not a word was said about it in the 
Gazette, either before or after, and when our one great, excit- 
ing, hair-lifting example of capital punishment occurred, 
in 1806, in the presence of 15,000 people, only six lines were 
devoted to a report of it! 

But one may read in detail the proceedings of Congress, 
— and the early meetings of that body must have been fol- 
lowed with intense interest by the thinking patriots of those 
days, doubtful occasionally whether this new experiment in 
government-making was likely to succeed, — watch the prog- 
ress of the great revolution in France, news of which could 
be read in Northampton about two months later than the 
events occurred, read letters from the revered Dr. Franklin 
(a number of the Gazette dated October 28th, 1789, begins 
with one of these on the subject of "Early Marriage," which 
with its wise counsel might well be reprinted today) and 
with gasps of astonishment see printed on the first page 
of another issue "An Oration in Praise of Rum" — so headed 
—delivered at a Commencement held in the University of 



198 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

Pennsylvania on the 30th of July, 1789, which closes thus: 
"Hail, great, ancient and universal cordial! Thou art the 
liquor of life! thou art the opiate of care! the composer of 
family troubles! the fuel of courage! the life and food of 
republican forms of government! In spite of the ravings 
and declamations of cynicks and madmen may thy influence 
be perpetual in the United States! Whether a short or a long 
life await our country, may she never want the blessings of 
Rum! if she is destined for long life may Rum be the milk of 
her old age — but if a premature death await her — may she! 
O! may she expire in an Ocean of Rum!" 

Although at first glance there appears to be so little of 
local interest in these early papers, they do give us one plenti- 
ful source of information. If one wishes to know what people 
here or abroad are eating, drinking, wearing, demanding, 
how business prospers or declines, how far manufactures in 
bulk are taking the place of hand labor, and how luxuries of 
all kinds creep in and become necessities, let him read the 
advertisements in the daily newspapers. And there is no 
pleasanter way of riding this hobby of mine than in galloping 
through the columns of the old Gazette. These notices to the 
public increase rapidly in number and interest, and with 
them seems to come a more cheerful air and an agreeable 
hum of traffic and of things doing. 

How attractive, for instance, is this list of things to be 
bought of Mr. Robert Breek a hundred and twenty-five years 
ago, ranging from "broadcloths, serges, flannels, baizes, 
duffels, everlastings" (how hard for a little girl to have a 
dress made of everlasting!) fustian, jeans, velvets, crapes, 
poplins, lutestring, cambric, Persian lawn," through "gauze 
handkerchiefs, cotton do. and linen do., worsted and silk 
mitts, quart bottles, brass skillets, snuff-boxes, wool cards, 
iron, brass and japanned candlesticks with snuffers, looking- 
glasses, graters, breast-pins, chaife nails, tost nails, crewets 
and quills" to "women's shoes and two yoke of cattle lit for 
the stall." Is the department store then a new thing.? 

What does Levi Shepherd mean when he says he will give 
a generous price for beeswax, and that he wants to procure a 



GLEANINGS FROM EARLY GAZETTES I99 

large quantity of good flax for the Duck manufacture? He 
will also take butter, and flax-seed and cheese, — probably 
to retail again. "A few good Rum hogsheads" Davenport 
& McLean say they have to sell, and that they are "Suitable 
for cyder," to which beverage they must have added a pleas- 
ant tang. 

Other things are asked for: "Wanted, a wet nurse, with 
a breast of young milk, to go into a family to suckle. N. B. 
the highest wages will be given in cash. Enquire of the 
Printer," betrays the reckless extravagance of a man in dire 
need. Nathan Bliss in asking for hire "Two journeymen 
weavers, that understand the business, and one that is 
acquainted with dressing cloth" gives us an insight into the 
way trades were learned and practiced. I wonder if he 
found the "sprightly, active lad about fourteen or fifteen 
years of age" he wanted as an apprentice. 

That people did not always keep their fences mended one 
judges from the number of red heifers, black and white steers, 
bay colts and white calves that are lost and found. And 
land had to be sold at public vendue even after it had been 
improved and was no more than a mile from the meeting- 
house. 

The inhabitants of Northampton were better off then than 
now in one respect, for they did have a real crockery store. 
Daniel Butler kept it, under the Printing Office, and says 
he has "oval platters, plates of all sizes, blue and white 
penciled and cream colored cups and saucers, mugs, bowls, 
tea-pots, etc.," also an assortment of stone-ware. The lack 
of money still shows in his agreement to take wheat, rye, 
Indian corn, pork and tallow in exchange for these articles. 

Thieves fared hard among our forefathers, if such a man 
is meant by Cornelius Lyman when he gives notice that he 
has "Apprehended by Authority and committed to the Gaol 
in this town a transient person, who calls his name Ebenezer 
Coole, alias Coon, alias Cohoon," and who, although he has 
had taken from him a bright bay horse with a small star in 
his forehead which had been defaced with lampblack, "gives 
no account of himself, otherwise than that he is acquainted 



200 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

in Williamstown, Bennington, Lansingburg and Albany." 
The printers in all neighboring towns are requested to spread 
this intelligence for "the detection of villainy and the benefit 
of the injured." Another horse thief is wanted, also the 
horse, his saddle and a portmanteau containing "a piece of 
ten yards of brown London cloth, a pair of velvet breeches 
with silver buttons, a pair of new buckskin breeches, a green 
marine coat, a new ruffled shirt, a new round furr hat, a 
blue silk vest, a pair of new boots, and a blanket." This 
thief (the advertisement says) called himself William Fox 
and being a great talker in broken English is supposed to be 
of French or German extract. (So the immigration question 
was already a grave one.) Mr. Asahel Pomeroy wants this 
thief, horse, and goods enough to offer ^30 for the return of 
everything, or $15 for either the pretty horse or the voluble 
thief. 

Literature does not seem to have been in great demand in 
early times in Northampton, for no books are offered for 
sale excepting Bibles, large and small, "Perry's Spelling- 
Books" and "Webster's Grammar." "A Proposal for print- 
ing by subscription Thirty-four Sermons on the most useful 
and important subjects, adapted to the Family and closet. 
By the Rev. Samuel Davis, A.M., late President of the 
College in Princeton, in two volumes" probably met with 
a more enthusiastic reception then than it would receive 
now, and that this method of securing the sale of a volume 
was usual appears in another notice which reads as follows: 

"An interesting proposal for re-printing by subscription 
'Advice from a Lady of Quality to her Children; in the 
last stage of a lingering illness.' It is said to be translated 
from the French, by S. Glasse, D.D., F.R.S., Chaplain in 
ordinary to his Majesty, and to be in two volumes — divided 
into twenty-one conferences on the following subjects, viz.: 

"History of her own Life — on order, on patriotism, on 
virtue, on social duties, further instructions on the same 
subjects, on pleasure, on ambition, on female conduct, on 
the love of truth, etc." Poor lady, I hope her children 
profited, but what a ghastly book! 



GLEANINGS FROM EARLY GAZETTES 20I 

But aside from this theological and meditative work some 
things were produced in the line of pure literature, for it is not 
long after the Gazette began before we begin to find a corner 
dedicated to the Aluses, and filled with serious verse in 
classic form, some quoted from Cowper and other English 
poets, and some original offerings to the paper's columns. 
Of this latter class apparently is the following, called "The 
Countryman's Wish." 

Of courtly grandeur let who will. 

For me, climb up the slippery hill; 

Witness, ye Gods, I ne'er had yet 

So mean a wish as to be great; 

I only ask a small supply 

For decent thrifty luxury, 

In some obscure though cleanly cell 

Where I with leisure blest may dwell 

And ne'er be ty'd by modish rules, 

To worship Knaves, or fawn on fools. 

To great ones at the distant town 

I would not be so much as known, 

Nor should the rabble's praise or blame 

E'en echo to and fro my name; 

Calm and serene I'd steal away 

From life by scarce perceived decay; 

And when in this sweet privacy 

My noiseless days were all slipt by, 

A good old countryman I'd die, 

Death's grim approach sure needs must be 

To him a huge perplexity. 

Who dies too well to others known, 

A stranger to himself alone. 

This is unsigned, but "Extract from The Messiah, a 
Poem," is said to be by Miss Scott, and beginning 

Hasten, great God! the long predicted time 
When Jesus shall be known in every clime 



202 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

goes swinging on in the rhymed pentameter to a quite 
ringing close describing the time 

When to the child of virtue shall be given 

To find ev'n earth the blessed porch of Heaven. 

It was in the Gazette that William Cullen Bryant's first 
poems were printed, sent down from Cummington by the 
learned Doctor Bryant, his father. Stiff enough were these 
boyish paraphrases of the Psalms and lines written to be 
read "on the last day of school before the minister," but 
correct and promising. It is to be feared that the author of 
some ambitious verses written for the Hampshire Gazette 
and called "Extempore lines to a Lady on her Flower- 
garden" — the first are 

Descend my Laura from the downy couch. 
And e'er the sun in potent beams arrayed 
And strength new gathered from his latest voyage, 
Trickling once more the distant rising hills, 

and then the syntax becomes too involved to follow — it is 
to be feared, I repeat, that he never had much reason to 
hope to be a successful wooer of the Muse. 

The so-called anecdotes with which Mr. Butler tried to 
enliven the pages of his journal as time went on, are not very 
amusing, and some of them are rather broad. Perhaps the 
following is as good an example as any. 

AN ANECDOTE OF THE LATE JUDGE WILLIS 

During a trial on the Western circuit, five years since, 
a witness made use of the word likewise very frequently in 
the course of his examination. His Lordship pettishly told 
him he did not, he believed, know the meaning of the word 
likewise. "Yes, I do," says the witness, "please your Lord- 
ship, for I remember your Lordship's father, who I believe 
was a Judge." 

"Right, fellow," says old Willis. "Yes, my Lord," 
answered the witness, "and you are a judge also, but you 



GLEANINGS FROM EARLY GAZETTES 203 

are not likewise.^'' The whole court, it is needless to say, 
were in a roar of laughter. 

But time does not serve for the further lingering over 
these old pages. Otherwise I could relate the story of the 
life of the negro highwayman Joseph Mountain as related 
by himself before his execution at New Haven in 1790, could 
tell you of finding President Washington's first Thanksgiving 
proclamation, and the account of the funeral of Governor 
Bowdoin, of the arrival in Boston from New Orleans of 
Spanish galleons, and of the raising by Mr. Joseph Barber of 
Warwick of three pompions of very remarkable size (one 
weighed eighty-five pounds), of how hydrophobia may be 
cured with vinegar, and the old, old yet ever new exhorta- 
tion to young women to make their own clothes, for so the 
writer says, "the allurement will soon attract the notice of 
men of sense, and dazzle in their eyes superior to the bril- 
liancy of a crimson silk, the gay appearance of a sugar-loaf 
hat thrown carelessly on one side of the head, with the addi- 
tion of an elastic bishop and a full-breasted stomacher." 

O these men, these men! how shall we ever be sure of 
pleasing them! 

These random extracts, and I can assure you much en- 
tertainment if you will examine for yourselves the files of our 
oldest newspapers, carefully gathered and kept in the Public 
Library, may be concluded with a description of the Gazette 
published almost exactly a hundred years ago today, Janu- 
ary 30th, 181 1, when the paper had passed its first quarter 
century mark. 

It was still four-paged, but each column had been length- 
ened some three or four inches, and there were four instead 
of three. The heading looks about as it does today, in clear 
simple lettering. The price, as mentioned at the top of the 
first column, had been fixed for town subscribers at $2.00 a 
year, and to subscribers in the neighboring towns at $1.50 
with twenty-five cents additional if sent by mail. 

The first page is filled with an article from the Baltimore 
Federal Republican called "An Examination of the Presi- 
dent's Message," and that and the communication which 



204 



EARLY NORTHAMPTON 



follows it indicate the imminence of the coming war with 
England. A great deal of fault is found because Congress 
had been holding secret sessions, a thing which seems to a 
Philadelphia correspondent to be what he calls a "disaster- 
ous menace;" the report of the sitting of the Massachusetts 
Legislature is brief, terminating with the introduction of a 
bill by Mr. Moody of Saco (which reminds us that Maine at 
this time belonged to Aiassachusetts) providing that a Com- 
mittee consisting of two members from each county be 
appointed "to consider the expediency of preventing the 
alarming effects experienced from mad dogs and foxes." 

A letter follows from a merchant in New York to his 
friend in Geneseo, informing him of his pleasure that the 
Commissioners who have been exploring the country from 
the Hudson to Lake Erie have determined to recommend the 
construction of a canal through that territory. This com- 
pletes what may be called the leading articles. Bits of news 
about Lord Wellington in Spain, and the attempts of the 
Spanish to win back their independence, dated two months, 
previously, remind us that the Continent was in the thick of 
the Napoleonic wars, and that Northampton was keeping 
up with the times as closely as the speed of sailing vessels 
would permit. 

Two marriage notices we have: one from Granby of 
Mr. Holfy Brainard and Miss Lucy Judd, both of South 
Hadley, the other of Mr. Samuel Alvord and Miss Sophia 
Day of the same place. If South Hadley had only kept up 
this pace she might have had a reputation for something else 
than a girls' college! Various notices follow. Joseph Cook, 
Oliver Pomeroy and Abner Hunt having been appointed by 
the town of Northampton a committee for the building of a 
meeting house say they are ready to receive proposals from 
any responsible person to complete the same: advertise- 
ments of an auction in Conway, a wagon-maker in Hatfield, 
a mare stolen in Middlefield and the settlement of an estate 
in Cummington show the extent of the circulation of the 
paper; our present systematic postmaster would be grieved 
to see a list of over one hundred undelivered letters; pictorial 



GLEANINGS FROM EARLY GAZETTES 205 

advertising begins with the enterprising Eben Cambell, who, 
having left his old stand at No. 3 Merchants' Row and taken 
a new shop fifteen rods north of the Court House, displays 
pictures of a saddle, a cap and a holster in token of his wares 
as a saddler and harness-maker. Grocery stores are as 
abundant as they are today, the Hartford Insurance Com- 
pany has been organized and Mr. Josiah D. Whitney is men- 
tioned as their local surveyor and agent, the never-failing 
"pale red steer" has strayed into Elijah Arms' pasture, who 
beseeches his owner to come and get him, and Guilford 
Hathaway prints this wail: 

Look at This Picture! 

Look, I say! it may be you are interested — if so, take 
heed! The subscriber is in want of money! He has asked 
for it — he has dunned for it — And if it comes in no other 
way, depend upon it, he'll sue for it. At the close of this 
month he will discontinue Post Riding, at which time he 
expects those indebted to him for Newspapers will make 
prompt payment — those that neglect will pay dear for the 
Whistle." 

Has not the way of the newspaper always been hard.^ 
And in the Poet's Corner on the last page we find this 
copy of agreeable verses, called 

PEGGY PATTIPAN'S ALARM 

A jeu d' esprit 
by Ephraim Epigram, Esq. 

An Eton wit who frequently would quiz 
Old Peggy Pattipan, with sav'ry pies, 

Once so alarmed her by a trick of his — 
The Provost was astonished at her cries. 

Inquiring of the dame, who sought for shelter, 
The cause she raised her feeble voice so high. 

She said, 'the German had agreed to pelt her, 
And At her, damn her, beat her, was the cry.' 



2o6 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

'Could Eton gentlemen be so profane?' 

The Provost said, and doubted much the story. 

'Lord Sir,' (quoth Peg) 'the boy's in yonder lane 
Who spoke the cruel words I've laid before ye.' 

'Quick, bring him here to answer for himself!' 
(the Provost cried) 'if 'tis as you have stated, 

I'll punish so severe the little elf 

He might as well almost be immolated.' 

The culprit brought — the Provost sternly asked 
'If he expressed himself so reprobate.^' 

'Sir,' (said the boy) 'I yesterday was taught 
To learn by heart the Grecian alphabet. 

Today, my letters as I cheerly sung, 
Repeating Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, 

The woman, ignorant of the Grecian tongue. 

Mistook for At her. Beat her. Damn her, Pelt her. 

Indeed, sir, this is what I really said, 

Only poor Pattipan could not distinguish; 

But to prevent in future any dread, 

I'll parse the Greek — and speak to her in English." 




GOVERNOR CALEB STRONG 




Governor Caleb Strong 



Governor Caleb Strong 



In the frontispiece of the history of our quarto-millennial 
celebration is given the picture of Caleb Strong, and he is 
spoken of as Northampton's first citizen. He well deserves 
the title, as he is a fine example of New England manhood. 
Unswerving in his convictions, combining firmness and 
moderation, of great good sense, he stood for the best in the 
town and state. 

He had a national reputation, as he was one of those who 
framed the constitution of the United States, and he served 
as a leading senator for seven years during the early part 
of the new government. In Massachusetts, he was one of 
her most important citizens, and the people recognized his 
worth and ability by choosing him Governor ten times. 
His career as a public man began when he was twenty-six 
years old and continued with slight intermission almost to 
the year of his death, nearly half a century. 

Caleb Strong was of the fourth generatfon from Elder 
John Strong, one of the first settlers of Northampton and 
one of its most highly respected citizens. He was an only 
son. His parents, Caleb and Phoebe Lyman Strong, are 
spoken of as "distinguished for original strength of mind and 
sound judgment, as well as for their prudent, pious and 
exemplary Christian character." 

Wishing their son to have the very best advantages in 
the way of education, they placed him with the Rev. Samuel 
Moody, of York, Me., a noted preacher of his day, to be 
prepared for college. 

He graduated from Harvard in 1764, with the highest 
honors of his class, when he was nineteen years of age. As 
he wa-s coming home from college he was taken with small 
pox and this critical illness left him with very weak eyes, 
from which he never fully recovered. Coming at the outset 
of his career, it was a great hardship for him, as he had 
chosen the law for his profession. But nothing daunted, he 



2IO EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

kept to his first plan, and with the help of his father and 
sisters, who read to him the few law books which then com- 
prised a legal education, he began to practice his profession 
at the age of twenty-six. This slow but thorough way of 
getting his knowledge of law no doubt had much to do with 
his success at the bar. In writing his son many years later 
and advising him about study, he says, "Your future success 
in life depends very much upon the manner in which you em- 
ploy the time at college. Indeed, this may be called the 
spring and seed time of your life, and your future harvest 
will be in proportion to your industry at this period. We 
are told that the sluggard who does not plow shall be at the 
harvest and have nothing. If you waste your time in play- 
ing cards, or other idle and disgraceful amusements, or in 
lolling in your chair, you will have the character of a poor 
scholar, and be despised by every one: but I hope better 
things of you, and flatter myself you have understanding 
enough to discover the value of a public education and 
the importance of a close application to your studies." 

While preparing for his profession he was in the office of 
Major Joseph Hawley, and there he studied not only law 
but politics. Major Hawley was one of the first who realized 
that war with Great Britian was inevitable and under his 
influence Mr. Strong came out on the patriotic side. In 
those days, law and politics could not be separated. The 
same year that he was admitted to the bar, he was chosen 
one of the selectmen of the town and served in that capacity 
nine years, and thus his public life began. Even when he 
was a young man, he showed those traits of character which 
endeared him to the whole community and made him a 
wise and safe leader. 

In 1774, he was chosen to represent Northampton at 
the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, and that same 
year he became a member of the committee of inspection 
and safety of the town of Northampton, and continued to 
serve as long as the war lasted. The following year he was 
appointed Justice of the Peace and Register of Probate for 
Hampshire County. 



GOVERNOR CALEB STRONG 211 

For twenty-four years he held the office of County 
Attorney. In political life he also rose rapidly. He was 
chosen to represent Northampton in the convention of 1779, 
which framed the constitution of Massachusetts. It was a 
large convention, and though Mr. Strong was a young man, 
he was chosen one of the four members at large on the com- 
mittee to draft the Constitution. A member of the Gov- 
ernor's Council, he was chosen by the General Court during 
the war, a delegate to Congress, and appointed a judge of 
the Supreme Court, an office which he declined, on account 
of the expense connected with it. He was a member of the 
State Senate from 1780 to 1789 and when the Constitution 
of the United States was adopted he was elected a senator of 
the United States. Air. Strong was a very active and 
efficient member of the Senate and was recognized as one 
of the most able lawyers in that body. He served six years, 
when he resigned, having two years still to serve. 

During his term of service he was closely associated with 
President Washington, and they consulted together on many 
important questions. Mr. Strong seems to have become 
weary of public life at this time and satisfied with his share 
of it. Seeking the retirement of his native town, he took up 
the practice of his profession again, but such an able man 
could not long remain in private life. 

In politics, he was a federalist, and in 1800 was brought 
forward as the candidate for Governor on that ticket. His 
great popularity is shown by the fact that he was elected 
when the state chose democratic electors for President. 
In Northampton and thirty-one other towns, there was 
not a single vote cast against him. This is an unusual 
record, for when a man has been in public life as con- 
stantly as Mr. Strong had, he would very naturally have 
some enemies, but he was a remarkable man, quiet, but 
firm, and succeeded in carrying out his views without antag- 
onizing people. He was greatly beloved by his own towns- 
people and they gave him the best and highest honors it 
was theirs to give. In those days the office sought the man 
and not the man the office. iVIr. Strong was reelected 



212 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

Governor until 1807, when he was defeated by Judge Sullivan 
of Boston, the democratic candidate. 

In 1S12, he was again called to serve his state. The 
government was in democratic hands and as war with Great 
Britian seemed imminent, the Federalists thought they saw 
victory ahead for their party if only the right candidate 
could be found. One with attractive personality and ex- 
ceptional ability was wanted, and Governor Strong was that 
man. He accepted the nomination. The tide turned and he 
was elected. He continued in that office until 1816, when he 
permanently withdrew from public life. 

Caleb Strong was given a very imposing reception when 
he went to Boston to be inaugurated in 181 2. He was met 
in Waltham by the Lieutenant Governor elect, the selectmen 
of Boston, the troop of Hussars and many citizens, who 
escorted him to the State House. The procession increased 
until there were about 600 horsemen in line, and on its way 
was greeted by the ringing of bells, the firing of guns in 
Watertown and loud cheering by the crowd of people gath- 
ered on Boston Common. 

Air. Strong married Sarah, daughter of Rev. John Hooker, 
in 1777, and they lived together for forty years, when she 
died in 18 17. They had nine children, but only four lived 
to survive their father. 

Caleb Strong died in 18 19, in his seventy-fifth year. He 
was a devoted member of the First Church in Northampton 
for over forty years and always interested in religious and 
philanthropic work. His father and mother were prominent 
in the church and he was brought up to love it and to rever- 
ence holy things. Though the religious training in those 
days was apt to be stern, it exerted a powerful influence 
upon him in his boyhood and had a marked effect upon 
his character in after years. 

He took an active part in all benevolent enterprises and 
was president of the Hampshire Missionary Society and the 
Hampshire Bible Society, was one of the founders of the 
Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the Massa- 
chusetts Historical Society. Early in his public life he was 



GOVERNOR CALEB STRONG 2I3 

given the degree of LL.D. by Harvard College. Two letters 
to his son Lewis, written while the latter was at college, show 
a picture of life very different from that which we see in New 
England today. 

Northampton, 

Nov. 14, 1799. 
My dear Lewis: 

I write only for the purpose of giving you information of 
our welfare, and of reminding you that it is of great impor- 
tance to you to be diligent in your studies, and that you 
avoid every evil consequence. I heard of your being at the 
play soon after you arrived at Cambridge. It will not be ad- 
vantageous to you to attend those amusements often. It 
would endanger your health, after spending three or four 
hours in such a warm place as a playhouse, to walk in the 
cold air as far as Cambridge; and, besides, going frequently 
to such places of amusement would divert you too much 
from the business you are to pursue at college. I hope that 
you will conduct with prudence in all respects, and that you 
will acquire the character of a good scholar and a person of 
engaging and amiable manners. 

Boston, March 5, 1803. 
My dear Lewis: 

The dress of a scholar near the close of his term at college 
should be a little more elegant than is necessary at an earlier 
period. He must then have somewhat the appearance of a 
gentleman. When you were here I thought your dress was 
hardly elegant enough. The coats that are cut straight down 
before may perhaps be called buckish, but, so far as I have 
observed, they are not worn by genteel people. If you want 
new clothes you must go to Callendar's for them, and get 
those that are good and durable, and take care to have them 
made large. If you want a new hat, you must get one. 

I am, my dear Lewis, 

Your affectionate parent, 

Caleb Strong. 



214 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

We hear much in these days of heredity and environment 
and their influence on human life. Both of these things were 
important factors in Governor Strong's life. 

He was fortunate in his splendid heritage. He came of 
the best New England stock, and the fine mind, the high 
ideals and the gentle spirit were his birthright. Without 
that inheritance he would not have been what he was and 
they reckon in vain who leave out the power of heredity. 

And again, the age in which he lived had much to do with 
shaping his life. His surroundings and opportunities were 
of just that character to bring out the unusual power that 
was in him. To quote my father in the Centennial Gazette, 
"Governor Strong lived in a remarkable time. It was a 
time of great agitation, of governmental chaos, of revolu- 
tion and war, of reconstruction^a peculiarly formative 
period. It was a time of great opportunities. Governor 
Strong was the man for the period. He combined conserva- 
tism with radicalism in proper measure, and met all the 
requirements made of him successfully." 

Air. Strong was a man of simple habits, prudent and in- 
dustrious. He went back and forth to Boston sometimes 
with his own sulky and at times in the public stage. He has 
left an honored and historic name. Rev. Dr. Joseph Lyman, 
of Hatfield, said of him, "Very few men have sustained 
public honors more peacefully, and been more eminently 
useful, through a long life, in times that tried men's souls." 




ROUND HILL, ITS HISTORY AND 
ROMANCE 



Round Hill, its History and Romance 



It has long been conceded that Round Hill, the sightly 
crest of Northampton, commands one of the loveliest culti- 
vated views in America, many a famous traveler declaring 
that no landscape has appealed to him in its beauty more 
than this. Indeed, one would need wander far to find any- 
thing of the same character to surpass it; for where can be 
duplicated its three thousand acres of unbroken fertile 
meadows, bordering, in varied colors, the boundaries of 
several towns? Though dwarfed in size, if compared with 
the western prairies, these broad lands, in their harmonious 
setting, are no less unique. 

Facing the rising sun with the half-rural city nestled at 
its feet on the winding streets, outlined by wide-spreading 
trees; with the Connecticut sweeping down from the north 
in graceful curves; and all encircled by the mountains, and 
more distant rim of hills, — the scene as viewed from Round 
Hill today cannot be greatly changed from what it was a 
century or more ago. 

The history and romance of Round Hill seem closely 
interwoven. Its history might be briefly told were it not 
for the romance — and the romance ! How define it in 
words. ^ Numberless romantic facts may be related; but 
who can speak of the deep, still current of life that has 
coursed beneath the surface of events like a subterranean 
stream? 

It is not known how much consideration had been given 
the Hill before the town, in 1681, granted Rev. Solomon 
Stoddard four acres on its eastern slope. Not caring to 
build on what seemed to him, doubtless, a lonely spot, he 
bought an adjoining lot and placed there his now historic 
dwelling— a part of Mr. Henry R. Hinckley's present home 
on Prospect Street. In 1726, the town granted his son, 
Colonel John Stoddard, the remainder of the Hill for forty 



2lS EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

pounds. It was he who added the fine gambrel-roof struc- 
ture to the old Stoddard house. 

Eighty years then passed, and during that time no one 
ventured to make a home on Round Hill. But in 1806 the 
Shepherd brothers, sons of Dr. Levi Shepherd, having bought 
the entire Hill of the Stoddard heirs, in 1803, for ^1,600, 
decided to build upon its summit. Thomas, father of the 
late Henry Shepherd, built the first of the three houses then 
erected there. This is still standing, being a part of the 
property bought by the trustees of Clarke School for Deaf 
Mutes, at the time this institution was removed from Gothic 
Street in 1870. It is now known as Rogers Hall, named in 
honor of Miss Harriet B. Rogers, the first principal of the 
school. 

To accommodate subsequent needs, additions have been 
made at both the south and north ends of the building. 
The west front of the original house, facing the road, is of 
brick; the other walls being of stone which was quarried in 
Middlefield, twenty-five miles distant, and drawn by ox- 
teams to the Hill. The house cost ^12,000, which was con- 
sidered a large sum in those days. It was two stories in 
height on the west until after coming into possession of its 
present owners, when a French roof was added. The hill 
falling away toward the east allowed an additional (base- 
ment) story on that side. Verandas overlooked the old- 
fashioned garden and orchard below, stretching then to 
Prospect Street; and beyond, as now, were the town, 
meadow, river and mountains. 

Thomas Shepherd was an ardent lover of nature, which 
led him to select this spot for his new home. That his mother, 
Mary, daughter of General Seth Pomeroy, did not alto- 
gether sympathize with him in this choice, is evidenced by a 
few lines in her journal, written under date of January nth, 
1806; "Yesterday the brick house was sold to Mr. (Josiah) 
Dickinson. Thomas is pleased with the bargain, and now he 
has sold his house he, with his brother Levi, intends building 
on the Hill in the Spring. Their father bought the brick 
house on purpose to prevent their ever building on that airy 



ROUND HILL, ITS HISTORY AND ROMANCE 2I9 

Hill." The brick house mentioned was the one on Pleasant 
Street, below River Street, long known as the Benjamin 
North place. 

Thomas Shepherd had married, the previous autumn, 
November, 1805, Catherine, daughter of Judge John Tryon 
of Lebanon Springs, N. Y. Time would fail ere one-half 
were told of the joys and sorrows of that first home on Round 
Hill; of the hospitality and good cheer enjoyed there, often 
extended to the clergy, who received frequent and generous 
entertainment within its walls. Before a mahogany side- 
board — still treasured by the family — that stood in the din- 
ing room on the east front, more than one minister of the 
old school drank his glass of brandy and water, before "Old 
Judge," the family horse, with the two-wheeled chaise was 
brought to the door of a Sunday to take him down to the 
First Church where, in exchange with the regular preacher, 
his zeal and eloquence, we are told, were none the less be- 
cause of "the cup that had cheered," but which, we are 
bound to believe, had "not inebriated." It is hardly neces- 
sary to add that these practices were not continued after 
the first wave of the Washingtonian Temperance movement 
swept over the land. 

Doubtless Parson Allen of Pittsfield, Betty Allen's son, 
"the fighting parson" of Revolutionary fame, was often a 
guest at the stone house in the early years of the last century, 
as the families were intimate. Mary Pomeroy Shepherd, to 
quote again from her journal, writes July 11, 1806; "Re- 
turned home after making a short visit at Pittsfield to Parson 
Allen's, for whose kindness and attention I shall ever stand 
indebted. Parson Allen is a persecuted Republican, but he 
bears the reproach like a real Christian, and will in the event 
of things come out like gold, purified in the fire." By this 
we can see that politics then shared with religion the atten- 
tion of the clergy. 

This real daughter of the Revolution lived much at her 
son's home on Round Hill during her later years, her husband 
having died in October, 1805. Christmas Day, 1806, the 
precious old journal records for our present-day reading a 



2 20 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

brief mention of the first Christmas ever celebrated on Round 
Hill; "This is the day that history says gave birth to our 
Savior, a day celebrated throughout the Christian world. 
It is strange that it was ever discontinued by any Christian 
sect. It has never been kept by the Dissenters, or rather 
Independents, who first peopled this country, only by the 
Church party. But it's now coming into fashion. I don't 
mean by preaching, or anything really good, but only by 
social meetings and entertainments. I spent this evening 
at my son Thomas', where a number of our friends were 
present, Judge Sedgwick, Judge Tryon, and our family con- 
nections — a very fine supper. These family meetings with 
my children are all the diversion that I now enjoy." 

Beneath this roof many children came to enliven, with 
their cousins in the other houses, the connecting fragrant 
gardens at the east, and the chestnut grove opposite, that 
descended the western slope of the hill. Of the many, only 
four little ones survived the early years of childhood. But 
it is easy now to envy the bliss of one who could pass the 
entire span, of even a brief life, on such a lovely height. The 
children who grew to maturity, and far beyond, were Cath- 
erine, Henry, Henrietta and Thomas. 

One day nearly a hundred years ago, a childish cry went 
up under the old trees on Round Hill's first home — a wild 
and plaintive wail! "Tommy's in the well! Tommy's in 
the well!" and then, what happened.^ Jabez French, a good 
neighbor at the foot of the orchard on Prospect Street, came 
to the rescue and brought Thomas Shepherd, 2d, up in 
safety, to his grateful mother's arms, else there would have 
been one less in that adventurous band of "forty-niners" 
who crossed the plains in their search for gold; riding and 
following; following and riding, with their pack mule trains. 
Jabez French, too, often set the pace with his violin — only 
a "fiddle" then — for merry dancers in this old house, where 
he and his wife were always greatly beloved because in so 
many kindly ways they brought joy to its first inmates. 

The second house on Round Hill was built by Levi Shep- 
herd and is now also a part of the Clarke School property, 



ROUND HILL, ITS HISTORY AND ROMANCE 221 

being the older of the two brick buildings north of Rogers 
Hall. In its day it stood for a very fine mansion indeed. 
May 14th, 1807, Mary Shepherd made this entry in her 
journal, announcing the first birth on the Hill: "This day 
has given birth to a child of my dear son Levi, a girl, and a 
very fine one she is. — I wish for thankfulness to that kind 
Providence that inclined that young man to leave the lone- 
some state of a bachelor and in exchange take a fine 
young wife." This daughter was Emeline Shepherd, and her 
mother, Elizabeth Hutchins, was an aunt of the late Mrs. 
Horace I. Hodges. 

The third house, and the last to be added for many years 
to those already mentioned, was of wood, and built by 
Colonel James Shepherd. This stood until within a short 
time where now Miss Parsons has her home, and will be 
remembered by many as the main entrance part of the old 
Round Hill Hotel. Colonel James was a cousin of the other 
Shepherds, but having been brought up in their father's 
family as a son, in that rare old-fashioned way, he was 
also like a brother in the household. He lived in this 
house but a short time, disposing of it to his cousins, and 
Charles Shepherd, a lawyer and younger brother of Thomas 
and Levi, was the next occupant. 

About this time Colonel James, with Thomas and 
Charles, started at "Shepherd's Hollow," now Leeds, the 
manufacture of woolen cloths. Their mill was one of the 
first of its kind in the country. By the year 1820 Thomas 
Shepherd had bought of his brothers their interest in the 
property, and was sole owner of Round Hill until it was 
sold by him Marth 17th, 1824, to George Bancroft, the 
noted historian, and Joseph Green Cogswell. These gentle- 
men had started there, October 1st, 1823, the famous 
"Round Hill School," leasing the buildings during the first 
year. At the time of purchase they agreed to pay "$12,000 
for the whole estate, and the day-schooling of a young son 
(Henry) of Mr. Shepherd, for eight years." 

On June 14th, 1825, when Lafayette visited Northampton, 
coming by stage over the mountains from Albany, he was 



222 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

met at an old inn at Roberts meadow by an escort of cavalry, 
accompanied by prominent citizens in carriages, and with 
great ceremony conducted into town. On the way down 
Elm Street the party made a detour up to the famous Round 
Hill School, which it is recorded "General Lafayette visited 
with great apparent satisfaction." 

George Bancroft's fame rests chiefly on his "History of 
the United States," but he gained distinction in many other 
ways; notably as United States minister to England and 
to Germany. He was, besides. Secretary of the Navy under 
President Polk, and established the Naval Academy at 
Annapolis. His connection with the Round Hill School 
lasted between seven and eight years, until 1830, when he 
disposed of his interest to Mr. Cogswell. While living on 
Round Hill, Bancroft occupied the stone house, and under 
its roof he was first inspired to write his great historical work. 
When residing there, he also married, March 1st, 1827, a 
niece of Thomas Shepherd, Sarah Hopkins Dwight of Spring- 
field, daughter of Sarah Shepherd and Jonathan Dwight, 
Jr. Mrs. Bancroft died ten years after her marriage, leaving 
two sons: John Chandler Bancroft of Milton, the artist, and 
George Bancroft, Jr., who married in St. Coulomb, France, 
Miss Louise Tailandler, a French lady, — and they after- 
wards resided there. 

Joseph Green Cogswell, after leaving Northampton, 
arranged, in connection with Washington Irving and Fitz 
Greene Halleck, plans for the Astor Library, which John 
Jacob Astor of New York was then about to found for his 
native city. Mr. Cogswell was also for many years the 
librarian and a trustee of this library. Another distinction 
which the prolonged life of the late Julia Ward Howe seems 
to bring very near, was his position as an early tutor of this 
remarkable woman, who visited Northampton shortly before 
her recent death. 

Bancroft and Cogswell built the connecting links be- 
tween the Charles and Levi Shepherd houses, forming the 
continuous structure familiar to all who knew Round Hill 
previous to the removal of these historic buildings. After 



ROUND HILL, ITS HISTORY AND ROMANCE 223 

George Bancroft's departure, the school, in charge of Mr. 
Cogswell, was incorporated as "The Round Hill Institution," 
but was discontinued four years later, in 1834. The build- 
ings soon began to be used for a water-cure establishment. 
This was in charge of different physicians for a number of 
years, with varying success until 1848. 

Before this time Dr. Edward E. Denniston was there for 
a while, but did not remain long, for in that year he opened 
the Springdale Water Cure, near the present site of Dickin- 
son Hospital. Dr. Denniston's association with Round Hill, 
though brief, added distinction to a locality destined to 
attract so many distinguished people. He was born in 
Coxheath, Ireland, receiving his medical education in Dublin. 
Coming to New York in the early thirties he there met 
Mr. Samuel Whitmarsh, a public-spirited resident of North- 
ampton, who persuaded him to locate in this town. It was 
esteemed a great privilege to know Dr. Denniston, for his 
was no ordinary personality. Tall, dignified, of commanding 
presence, and possessed of fine conversational powers; 
kindly, able, and skilled in his profession, he always, during 
his long residence here was looked up to as a unique and 
valued citizen. His distinguished bearing and many of his 
characteristics were inherited by his daughter. Miss Anna 
Denniston. Another celebrated physician who had to do 
with early Water Cure days on Round Hill was Dr. Austin 
Flint, the first of the three famous physicians bearing the 
name. 

It was not until 1848 that Mr. Cogswell deeded the 
property on Round Hill for ^15,000 to the corporation known 
as "The Round Hill Water Cure Retreat," Dr. Alfred 
Randall and Dr. Chauncey Hall, being the proprietors. 
The property was sold by them in 1854 to Dr. Hatfield 
Halstead for $25,000. 
sL. In July, 185 1, the town experienced a sensation, that 
even in retrospect causes a throb of excitement — ^Jenny 
Lind, "The Swedish Nightingale," through the efforts of a 
number of public-spirited citizens, came to Northampton 
and gave her famous concert in the "Old Church." Not 



224 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

alone in Northampton, but music lovers from surrounding 
and distant towns were wild with anticipation. People who 
never had paid such a price before to hear a concert and knew 
they were extravagant, parted recklessly with three dol- 
lars, and in some instances even a larger sum, to secure a seat. 
The audience which greeted the young singer crowded the 
church and responded with unprecedented enthusiasm to 
the following selections: "I know that my Redeemer 
Liveth;" "Casta Diva;" "Home, Sweet Home;" and 
"Comin' thro' the Rye." 

Jenny Lind returned by special train to Springfield after 
the concert; but a few days later, after a trip to Mt. Holyoke, 
she drove to Northampton and visited Round Hill, with 
which she was so much charmed that the next year, after her 
marriage to her Concert Manager, Otto Goldschmidt, they 
came here and spent their three months' honeymoon at the 
Round Hill Hotel. They occupied a suite of seven rooms on 
the second floor, east front, in the main part of the house. 
The newly married pair became familiar figures on North- 
ampton streets, and there are persons who still recall, as a 
charming vision, the fair, happy face of Jenny Lind as she 
sat beside her tall, dark-eyed husband, in the open barouche 
in which they used to drive about the town. Before their 
departure for Europe, in May, 1852, she gave another con- 
cert here, this time in the Town Hall, and when the seats 
cost only one dollar; the people of Northampton having 
first choice. The proceeds, above expenses, she generously 
divided between "The Young Men's Institute" — afterwards 
the nucleus for Clarke Library — and a sum to be given to 
local charities. 

When Doctor Halstead, in 1854, came to Round Hill 
from Rochester, N. Y., with his interesting family of 
daughters, like the former proprietors, he did not conduct the 
establishment strictly as a water cure, and it became under 
his management a much frequented summer hotel and 
health resort combined. The Halstead family was a valu- 
able social acquisition to the life of the town, interested 
in its best activities, and entertaining freely in the large 



ROUND HILL, ITS HISTORY AND ROMANCE 225 

drawing room of the hotel, where many a dowager wall- 
flower of today has "tripped the light fantastic toe." One 
of Doctor Halstead's daughters married Dr. John W. Noble, 
who distinguished himself in the Civil War, and during 
Benjamin Harrison's administration was Secretary of the 
Interior. 

The popularity of the water cure treatment in North- 
ampton waned at last, but not until many townspeople, with 
others from distant parts, became familiar, either by expe- 
rience or hearsay, with the virtue of cold and hot packs — 
which meant lying for an indefinite time between wet sheets; 
of sprays; of showers, and many other applications of water 
at various temperatures; besides an agency more curative, 
perhaps, than any other employed— the delightful social 
atmosphere pervading all these resorts. Doctor Munde's 
famous establishment at Florence was another Hydropathic 
Cure operated at this time in the vicinity. 

Though as a beauty spot the popularity of Round Hill 
has never diminished, people who formerly had passed 
the summer there, began to seek cooler resorts, on the coast 
and among the mountains. Mr. Olney and Doctor Backus 
were among the last proprietors of the old house, but it soon 
became unprofitable and was abandoned as a hotel. In 1869, 
the property passed into the hands of a syndicate, when 
the buildings were detached and used again as private 
dwellings. 

John Clarke, the founder of Clarke School, and of Clarke 
Library, was one of Northampton's most generous bene- 
factors. Born in the old Washburn place on Hawley Street, 
formerly the home of his father, Samuel Clarke, he later, and 
until his death in 1869, lived on the corner of Hawley and 
Bridge Streets in the house since incorporated in the 
"Norwood." 

Besides the estates already mentioned that were acquired 
by the trustees of Clarke School, they purchased the Edward 
Clarke place; also the grove opposite the three houses. 
Later, beside the old brick house, a new one, similar in style, 
was erected. Before the Thomas Shepherd homestead was 



226 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

bought for the school, besides Bancroft and Cogswell, it had 
the following owners: Edward Church; David Joy; Sher- 
man Peck; Samuel Kirkland and Major Harvey Kirk- 
land. 

A daughter of Mr. Peck — Emma, married the late Doc- 
tor Bonney of Hadley. Mr. David Joy, with his wife and 
adopted daughter, Lilla, came to Northampton from New- 
buryport, and were most interesting people, remembered by 
a few families still living here. They were Quakers, very 
simple, refined and cultivated in their manner and mode 
of life. Upon leaving Northampton the family made their 
home in Hopedale, Aiass., where Lilla Joy married young 
William F. Draper, who in later years was known as Gen- 
eral Draper and our distinguished embassador to Italy. His 
younger brother, the late Eben Draper, was for several years 
Governor of Massachusetts. 

The late Edward Clarke, a brother of John Clarke, and 
an uncle of Christopher, was a native of Northampton. 
There must be many who remember this quaint gentleman 
of the old school as he used to ride his ambling horse about 
the streets. He was very slender, and of genial, benevolent 
aspect. In early manhood he went to Boston, where as a 
successful merchant he acquired a large fortune, and return- 
ing in 1836 bought land of Mr. Cogswell, where he built a 
house on the site south of Rogers Hall. Mr. Clarke added 
to this estate from time to time on both sides of Round Hill 
road. Having married the beautiful and accomplished Mary 
Blake, who belonged to a prominent and wealthy Boston 
family, they furnished their new home in great comfort and 
elegance. It was known for many years as a center for culti- 
vated and refined society. Mrs. Clarke delighted to gather 
musical people about her, being herself a fine musician; and 
pleasant recollections of these occasions are still cherished 
by Mr. Christopher Clarke. The beautiful Kate Phillips, 
Mr. Clarke's niece, who lived with them then as an adopted 
daughter, and afterwards married Mr. Blake of Boston, was 
the mother of Mrs. H. H, Chilson, wife of the present Clerk of 
the Courts for Hampshire County. 



ROUND HILL, ITS HISTORY AND ROMANCE 227 

■ Mr. Clarke died in 1858. In 1859, the homestead was 
sold to Lafayette Maltby of Kentucky, who took up his 
residence here, Mrs. Clarke building a smaller house for 
herself on the west side of the road. This is now the home 
of Miss Moody, In 1865, Mr. Maltby sold the old place to 
Professor Josiah Clarke and James S. Spaulding; these 
gentlemen opening there the second Round Hill School for 
boys, which was carried on until about the time the property 
was bought by the present owners in 1870. 

Mr. William B. Hale, cashier of the Holyoke — now the 
First National — Bank, built his attractive house on Round 
Hill in i860. In 1867 he increased his holdings by a pur- 
chase from Lewis L. Hopkins, then occupying the old 
Henshaw homestead on Elm Street, now the home of Mrs. 
Sessions. His son, Phillip Hale of Boston, is prominent as 
a well-known musical and dramatic critic. Mr. A. L. Willis- 
ton bought the property in 1880. Before the erection of his 
larger house, the Hale house was moved south to its present 
location, and is occupied by his son, Robert L. Williston, 
who through his mother (Sarah Stoddard) is a lineal de- 
scendant of Rev. Solomon and Col. John Stoddard, the first 
owners of Round Hill. 

The house that for so many years has been the home of 
Mr. Merritt Clark was built on land bought of Edward 
Clarke in 1839, by Judge Charles P. Huntington, a native 
of Hadley, and brother of the late Bishop F. D. Huntington. 
The town of Huntington in Hampshire County was named 
for him, in recognition of his services in obtaining from the 
state legislature, in 1855, permission for the old town of 
Norwich (now Huntington) to annex portions of Chester, 
and Blandford, and to change the name of the newly organ- 
ized town. Judge Huntington made a gift to the town of 
$100 with which to start a public library; the town appro- 
priated an equal sum and voted a yearly tax for its main- 
tenance. In a few years, unfortunately, the building in 
which the books were housed was burned and the library 
destroyed. 

Judge Huntington's family was greatly beloved and 



228 EARLY NORTHAMPTON 

admired, his wife being of the distinguished Mills family, 
connected with the Hunts, who lived in the house where 
now is the Burnham School. Mr. Huntington was appointed 
a justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court, after which 
the family removed to Boston. When living in Northamp- 
ton, the eldest daughter, Fanny, an accomplished musician, 
played the organ in the Unitarian Church. She later married 
Josiah Quincy, and became the mother of Ex-Mayor Josiah 
Quincy, Jr., of Boston. 

Rev. William Silsbee, pastor of the Unitarian Church 
during the fifties, was the next owner of the place, purchas- 
ing in 1856. Here he and his family received with gracious 
hospitality, not only the people of his parish, but a large 
circle of other friends. Air. Clark has lived in this home 
46 years, longer than any previous owner, having bought it 
of the Silsbees in 1864, and seems on this pleasant hillside 
to have found the secret, if not of perpetual youth, at least 
that of a green old age. 

To the list of Round Hill's distinguished residents has 
recently been added a name second to none in the honor it 
brings to the history of this famous locality — that of Dr. L. 
Clark Seeyle, the first president and now President Emeritus 
of Smith College. 

The beautiful modern home of Miss Parsons, located with 
its gardens and shrubbery to command one of its finest 
assets — the eastern view — marks a spot of ground that 
is fairly saturated with the history and romance of the 
Hill. 

Occupants of other houses of the present Round Hill 
colony are: Mr. Oliver Walker; Dr. Gardner; Dr. Minshall; 
Ex-Mayor J. B. O'Donnell; Judge Strickland and Mr. 
Maynard. Mr. Lucien A. Dawson, in the early seventies, 
erected the first house built on the lower level of the Hill. 
In 1886, Crescent Street, at about the same elevation, ruth- 
lessly carved its way through the old orchards and gardens, 
Henshaw Avenue, of earlier date, having proved an entering 
wedge. 

The old Fourth of July Tea Parties, frequently mentioned, 



ROUND HILL, ITS HISTORY AND ROMANCE 229 

even in these later days, were events which the village people 
felt loth to give up, but as the town became larger they were 
discontinued. The first of these is described as taking place 
in 1820 on "Shepherd's Hill," as Round Hill was then called, 
and this spot, oftener than any other, was chosen for their 
celebration. 

Anyone who has read Mrs. Susan Leslie's and Mrs. 
Caroline Butler's delightful accounts of these occasions, will 
hesitate to describe them again. Their pen pictures bring 
before the reader, among these sylvan surroundings, the 
group of now shadowy figures who once made Northampton 
society famous. Surely no place could have been found more 
perfectly adapted to these gatherings than the large, beauti- 
ful grove, a fine part of which fortunately remains. One 
summer when the party was held on Round Hill, the wonder- 
ful violinist, Ole Bull, during his first visit to Northampton, 
was present — one of the most noted guests ever entertained 
at any of these Tea Parties. 

There seems no last word to say for old Round Hill, 
robed in memories, and crowned with fame. But it should 
be here recorded that the sons and daughters of Northamp- 
ton, whether living under her shadow or remembering her 
from afar, have ever been loyal to the charm of her beauty, 
her history, and her romance. None ever loved her more 
than one of the boys born in her first home, now nearly a 
hundred years ago, who used to come here often, especially 
after the shadows grew long. Not as a pilgrim, but mounted 
like some knight of old, he rode to the crest of this height, 
grown sacred to him — 

From this fair eminence again to look 

Upon the open leaves of Nature's book; 

To gaze once more on mountain, meadow, stream, 

And once more to recall a life-long dream. 



ODE 



TO THE FOREFATHERS WHO BUILT THE 
FIRST MEETING HOUSE IN NORTHAMPTON 







.., '♦' 



Ode 

TO THE FOREFATHERS WHO BUILT THE 
FIRST MEETING HOUSE IN NORTHAMPTON* 



The pathless ocean's perils overcome, 

To this new Land of Promise, wild and wide, 

An exiled band, far wanderers from home. 

Ye came, led onward by a heavenly guide. 

Where spread the forest traced by savage feet. 

Ye builded homes above the meadows sweet. 

Did dread of cruel foes ne'er make you quail, 

Nor cry of wild beast, lurking in the night.'' 

Did harsh privations cause the hope to fail 

That led you on through endless toil, to fight 

For truths eternal, for eternal right? 

Oh, valiant band that knew not how to fear! 

Upon this spot made consecrate by thee 

We stand, and looking backward dimly see 

Visions of days departed, time when here 

Ye built God's house and praised Him. Honored, dear 

To us forever, shall your memory be. 

Stern men, who to Jehovah bowed the kneel 

What can we render of true thanks, today, 

Our Fathers, for the heritage ye gave 

Of dauntless faith and freedom.^ Nothing save 

This graven tablet.'' Rather let us say. 

We will strive worthily along the way 

Of life, bear torches in the dark, be brave 

To strange new issues and to problems grave. 

Oh, ye who burned with zeal for God and men! 

Ye who writ courage large on history's page! 

Quicken our souls, in our lives live again 

So, faithful in a restless, seething age. 

We shall pass on, undimmed, our heritage. 



* Written for the dedication, by Betty Allen Chapter, D. A. R., November 22d, 1912 
of the boulder marking the site of the First Meeting House. 




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